Luck isn't for the faint hearted
by AmberKendsLacy
Summary: Clover woke in her new life 610 years ago, bitterly remembering her past and forcing herself to look towards the future as she helps those in need of her luck. Takes place before movie, during and after. Don't like don't read and flames used to cook delicious pop-tarts.
1. Chapter 1

"Stand still girl."

Fear, I'm afraid.

I don't want to die.

A strange feeling bursts through my chest as I fall to the ground giving me only a moment to see my attacker before closing my eyes for the final time.

...

I wasn't given time to feel the pain.

* * *

Darkness had swallowed me for longer than I can remember. In my mind, every day was an eternity, with no pain or emotion to feel.

I merely, existed in sleep.

Then, there was light.

I woke in the dark, staring up at the shining, pale moon as it called down to me, whispering as though it were right next to me, relaxing my once frightened and confused mind as it showed me who I had become.

_You are the leprechaun, spirit of fortune._

I nodded once and sat up, crawled towards a nearby pond and gasped at my appearance. My memory was cloudy and confusing but I was aware of the changes that had happened during my sleep. My blue, tired eyes had turned a bright emerald green, shinning in curiosity as I saw that my once long and dirty brown hair had now turned a fiery red surrounding my small face. I gently pulled one of the curly hairs, amused at its oddity.

My clothes that had once been a dull gray dress and brown boots had been transformed into a short lime green dress that stopped at my knees with a black belt around my middle and shiny black boots.

Eventually I stood, only to fall back down as a numb feeling spread through my legs. I waited for the feeling to pass before trying again and walking in a small circle to make sure that I wouldn't fall.

Satisfied with my accomplishment I was about to walk off when I noticed a strange black pot nearly buried in the dirt. Still as curious as I had been in my old life I walked over to it and picked it up, wiping away the dust from the pots rim.

There was nothing inside but I thought it best to take it with me, it might prove important later on. Besides, if what my fears were telling me was true, it was best not to walk through this certain part of the woods without some sort of protection.

I looked at my surroundings, the forest was just as alive as it had been in my youth, but now it was covered with horrid memory of my death, something that I thought best to leave behind. Yes, I shall find a new place to call home.

I briefly paused, feeling as thought I had forgotten something important before shrugging, my thoughts now on the new direction I should take, I looked up at the night sky and smiled as the North Star lit up the sky. That would be a great place to start.

With my objective in mind I quietly saluted to the moon and forest that surrounded me before running off towards the stars direction, my new emerald eyes bursting with excitement at the thought of my freedom.

* * *

I wandered through the now unfamiliar forest in happiness; my nerves had by now grown numb to the coldness of the snow as I walked. I took this time to inspect the black pot I had picked up when I woke; it was a strange thing indeed. Strange, because it looked completely empty yet it felt as though I carried the weight of a thousand pots in one hand, which, even more strangely didn't bother me since I seemed to have become stronger when I woke in this new form.

I reached my hand into the pot, almost expecting to find nothing as I pulled out my hand. So it's easy to say I was surprised when I pulled out a fist full off gold coins. I stopped and stared in shock at my hand before slowly tipping the gold coins back into the pot.

Is this what the man in the moon had meant by fortune? What was I supposed to do with all of this gold? Was I supposed to help people? I sure hoped it was, since I had known many children in my old life that had required this kind of help.

During my ponderings I was unaware that I was heading towards the edge of a cliff and only registered it as I fell.

A horrified scream ripped through my throat as I fell, terror possessed my mind as I held my hands in front of me in a half hearted attempted to protect the rest of my body as the ground came spiraling towards me.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I lamented on the sudden stop in my new life when I realized that I had not hit the ground yet. My eyes opened slowly and registered that I was holding myself in mid air by a strange multi colored like substance that had come from my hands. I slowly sat comfortably on the strange colors as I thought over the possibility on my new power.

After a short while I sat up on the strange cloud and held out my hand again, this time forming a path in my mind. The path appeared in front of me, a rainbow path would probably be a better description. I grinned and walked across the path before looking down. I gasped and nearly fell off the path from shock. I was several feet above ground.

Gaining control of my emotions again I formed the rainbow path father in my mind and followed the North Star. Eventually I gained confidence in my ability and started to run across the path as it formed in my mind, the joy and exhilaration I had felt earlier this night returned with full force as I ran.

Eventually the North Star led me to a town. I slowly maneuvered my path so that I eventually landed safely on the ground. I looked up at the night sky as the moon started to disappear over the mountains ahead and waved him goodbye.

The sun soon made its arrival and lit up the town, water left behind on the trees from rainy days gently started to fade, leaving the trees with only a small amount of the moisture on its lower branches, giving the town a rather calm and relaxed feeling. I took in a deep breath of the fresh air and took the time to relax myself before walking through the towns empty streets.

* * *

Hours later, I had looked about the town in search of any children, only to be disappointed to find none around. Disappointed but not discouraged I continued in my search until it came to my attention that it was still early morning and they were probably still sleeping.

I chuckled at my humility and waited for the children to make their appearance. During my wait I inspected the gold coins once more, content that I wasn't going to plunge off another cliff while doing so.

The coin was small yet shone brightly in the morning light, leaving a rather beautiful image on the wet grass beneath my feet. It was mostly bare in carvings apart from a four leaf clover symbol on both sides. I placed the coin back in the pot and held the pot up in air, wondering briefly just how heavy it must seem to normal people.

My thoughts were broken by the sounds of laughter in the distance. Looking up, I placed the pot on the log that I had been resting on as several children appeared from behind one of the houses, talking excitedly as they were apparently gathering around one small boy who was inspecting something in his fist. I walked over to the group; my interest peaked as I drew closer.

"Come on; just show us what you got from the Tooth Fairy!" The smallest of the boys complained as he pushed the boy in the centre, who laughed and silently shook his head, a challenging smirk on his features as his friends pleaded in reaction. I stood back a bit wondering what they meant by Tooth Fairy? I seemed to recall a sort of children's tale that if you lost a tooth then a sort of, spirit would reward you.

I chuckled under my breath; dismissing the whole idea that this spirit could actually be real as I walked away from the scene, back to the log where I had left pot. The group of children however, seemed to have the same idea as me and followed me to the log, their voices still full of laughter and requests to see the item in the boy's hands.

Sighing in annoyance, I picked up the pot and walked back over to the group as they gathered around the log and waited for the boy to reveal the item in his hands.

Eventually, after a large amount of begging he opened his fist, showing a small coin with a symbol of a tooth. Confusion crossed over my features as I pulled out one of the coins from my pot and held it up in the air, comparing it with the tooth coin in the boy's hands.

They were practically the same! Other than the symbols they could have been mistaken as the same coin. Thinking back to my dismissal of the spirit I decided that there was a chance, a small one, that I could have been wrong.

I stood up from my resting place just as the kids were about to sit there themselves as I quickly plunged my hand into the pot and pulled out a coin for each child, laying them carelessly on the wet grassy floor for them to hopefully find before continuing in my earlier inspection of the town.

* * *

**So tell me what you think. And remember, I require constructive criticism, not random insults that barley make sense in context.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Doyle0915: Thanks for the positive review! I really hope to get more in the future! **

**Anyway enjoy! And I do not own Rise Of The Guardians, if I did then I would obviously be rich, but I'm not...sigh.**

* * *

After 20 or so years of inspecting the town and watching quietly and with full amusement as the small huts turned into brick houses and the poor turned into filthy rich. (With only a little help from me of course...) Eventually I decided that it should be time for me to move on, after all there were other people in the world that deserved the type of fortune that I had been giving to these townsfolk.

A plan on where to go next had been forming slowly in my mind during my stay, helped along by the tales of other spirits like me. I decided that I would catch one of these strange beings in the act and seek their guidance on where to go next, I mean who knows? They might actually be able to explain who I am and what exactly I'm supposed to do with my new life.

Eventually one night I finally decided to that I would find the Tooth fairy, since it was the first spirit I had heard from when I joined this new existence it seemed only fair that it was the one I sought out for help.

Excited by my 'mission', I quickly used a rainbow path to rise above the town, making sure that I would be able to see any strange movement that would catch my eye.

Although, as much as I was excited at the thought of meeting someone like me, I was still worried on whether or not they'd even be able to help me, I mean what was I supposed to do if it turned out that they could answer my questions?

I shook my head to rid myself of the anxious thoughts. Of course they'd have the answers, I mean they're spirits, spirits that were older than me so obviously they would know more.

But still...

Hoping to rid myself of the confronting questions that for some reason or another hadn't surfaced until now, I decided to focus on other matters that had come with my new existence. For instance, the apparent 'fortune' I was supposed to be giving to people. I mean, it obviously couldn't have been for me; otherwise I would still be in my old form, living my old life, just with more fortune than last time. So the moon must want me to give fortune to others, right?

Speaking of living, I had noticed a while ago that I had apparently not aged a single day since I woke in this new form. Immediately jumping to conclusions I developed the idea for myself that the moon had apparently made me immortal and now I could live forever doing whatever it was he wanted me to do, which was an amazing prospect in itself.

Another thing that I had become aware of over the years was that as I walked through the town, no one would look at me or even speak to me, almost as if I didn't exist to them. But of course this wasn't the weird part...no, the weirdest part would be when they walked right through me.

Because of that I always avoided crowded areas. The feeling of being walked through seemed to destroy me more inside than the thought of being ignored by everyone and everything. When they walked through me, it felt as though I shouldn't exist, that I was just an empty gesture, something best left to rot out of life.

But after a while, I slowly grew content with not being seen, yes sometimes it still got to me but most of the time I considered it a bonus with all the other benefits that came from the moon. In fact sometimes it almost felt as though I always knew that they couldn't see me, and actually took comfort in it.

After all how are supposed to explain to a normal person on how your floating on a rainbow you made in your mind while dressed completely in green when everyone in the town dressed in sad colors of brown and darker brown? Yeah, that's what I thought.

However, the more I thought about it the more I wondered on how I came to be this way and what exactly was I supposed to do with it.

I held the coin up to my face and thought. If I was supposed to give children good fortune...Did that mean I would have to create this fortune for people? I smiled for a moment then frowned, how exactly was I supposed to help people when they couldn't see me?

I quickly shook my head to rid myself of the annoying questions that seemed to be goin g out of their way to stick in my mind, I would just have to have faith in the possibility that when I found another spirit tonight, or whenever I could find one, they would answer everything for me. I put the coin away as I noticed that the night had finally taken over and the moon, my new friend, took over the skies.

Smiling I waved up to him in greeting and nearly jumped in fright as a strange line of yellow sand passed next to my face, gasping I stumbled away from it, nearly falling of the path as I did so.

I straightened myself and went to poke the substance. There was a moment of silence before the sand transformed in to a small dog. The dog ran about my small rainbow patch before jumping on my lap and tilting its head as I quickly stood and backed away in fright. I eventually hit a solid surface that I registered as a wall until it tapped me on the shoulder.

Screaming in fright I jumped away from the wall, only to see that it wasn't a wall, but a man.

A really strange man for that matter. He small and was basically golden, and floating. He waved at me in greeting and reached over to tug on the line of sand, summoning the dog back into the line before it disappeared completely into the golden cloud he was standing on.

I stood in shock before slowly waving back at the little man, frowning as a questions formed in my mind, the happiest one bursting out first as I looked ready to cry.

"You can see me?" The man nodded and nearly jumped back in shock as I practically tackled him, sheer happiness taking over my words, which came out rather scrambled and muffled due to my face being covered by his golden suit that was slowly gaining moisture from my tears of joy.

I continued to weep in happiness, my dignity apparently a thing of the past as the small man slowly and awkwardly patted my back, clearly unsure of how to handle the situation I had thrown him in without thinking.

Eventually though I pulled away from him, still hiccuping and sniffling softly, my cheeks flushed red as I had suddenly realized how out of place I must have made the small man feel.

"Sorry, it's just, it's been a while since anyone has talked to me, and I thought I was alone!" I said softly, before nearly gaping in amazement as figures appeared over the yellow man's head. The images showed a desert and a man next to it. I waited for a few minutes before the man sighed silently pointed up at the figures above his head, then at himself. Making me realize that he was telling me his name.

"Desert guy?" I queried, mentally shaming myself as the little man smirked with apparent humor.

The little man shook his head and gesturing for me to have another go. Always loving a challenge, I tried again, mulling it over silently this time before answering.

"Ummm...Sandman?" He nodded and smiled again holding out his hand to shake.

I took his hand and shook; his hands were actually fairly small by comparison to mine.

"I'm the Leprechaun." I said quickly, happy to finally be able to tell someone the new name my friend had given me those few years ago.

The Sandman created a small hat out of his sand and tipped it before making it disappear again. I giggled and curtseyed in return before turning and watching one of the sand lines made their way into a small girl's room.

Curious, I quickly jumped off my rainbow path, creating one after another to jump on until I eventually reached the ground then walked over to the small girl's window and looked through. I watched as the sand over her head transformed into the small dog I had seen earlier prancing around above her, its tail wagging at the sight of me before continuing, knowing that it couldn't go back over to me while it was with the girl.

I turned back to the Sandman, who gave me another fright by standing right behind me, with a questioning look, "What does your sand do?"

The figures above his head showed a sleeping person then a thought bubble of the same dog that was above the girls head at that moment.

"They make dreams?" The Sandman nodded and gestured towards me, and specifically the pot I was holding.

"Oh this?" I said holding the pot up idly. I shrugged and pulled out a handful of the coins and showed them to him. "I was told that I was the spirit of fortune, so I guess this is what he meant."

The small man shot me a quizzical look and I realized my mistake before pointing up at the moon.

"I woke up and he told me who I was and what I'm supposed to do...but..." I frowned, unsure of what to say next.

Sandman frowned at me and gestured for me to continue.

"I...I don't know where to go from here, to be honest, I was hoping to meet someone like me so that they could explain what I do next..." I frowned sitting on the cold ground as the worrying questions I had spent the last few years trying to push away came back to me. My arms securing themselves around my middle as I became aware of how cold it had become recently.

My red hair surrounded me as I tried my hardest to hold back a shiver, not wanting to seem any weaker then I probably already was in the Sandman's eyes.

I was about to look up to ask him on the whereabouts of the Tooth Fairy when I suddenly felt so much warmer than I did a moment ago. I looked up to see the small man patting my back again before holding out his hand, gesturing for me to come with him.

Smiling, I mentally fare welled the small, now big town that I had spent so long in before taking his hand, I immediately cried out in shock as we went flying into the air, faster than I had ever gone. I held onto the small man before slowly relaxing, knowing that he had a pretty good grip on me, but not hesitating to squeeze his free hand if we got to close to trees or mountains.

After a while I managed to relax fully and turned to him holding out my hand below my feet and focusing on a small rainbow path of my own.

Eventually it appeared, surprising the Sandman to a stop as I gently let go of his hand to stand on the path that I had made.

I held my arm out again in front of me and made the path longer, running across it before turning the path back to the surprised Sandman.

"What do you think?" I asked curiously, unsure of his reaction.

He smiled and gestured for me to follow him on my own path as we continued on our travel to wherever he was taking me.

* * *

After a few hours of floating and half silent conversation on rather trivial things, like other spirits (Which was mostly taken up by me asking if they were all real, which they are.) We managed to arrive to where Sandy was taking me.

I looked around the island in amazement, the island was a beautiful sight, the sand on the beaches seemed to nearly create every tree and rock image, when it came to creating the building that was nearly hidden by the sand trees, when it became buildings it seemed to change colour, from a soft yellow into a warm orange.

But the most beautiful thing about it was how it glowed in the sunlight with what seemed like the same kind of energy that the sand my new friend controlled. I picked up the sand, feeling a good portion of it slip in-between my fingers as I inspected it closer.

It wasn't like ordinary sand. It seemed, smoother, softer than what I was expecting. As I held the small portion of sand in my hands I was suddenly aware of how sleepy I had suddenly gotten.

I was about to say something to Sandy, not quite sure what. But whatever it was I never seemed to get the chance to finish as I fell onto the sand, sleep coming over my new form before I could help it.


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but my OC and if I did I would obviously be rich. (Sighs at lack of money before continuing)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Sandy watched the younger spirit sleep and chuckled, he must have forgotten to tell her about the sleeping sand on the beach, oh well.

Using his sand, he carefully lifted the Leprechaun off of the ground and took her to his nearby home. It was a small house, useful for a small man who regularly spent his time away from home, but it was comfy and relaxing whenever he was here.

He gently lowered the new spirit onto a nearby couch and left her to sleep, he was feeling rather tired himself.

Sandman spared one last glance at the Leprechaun before smiling and floating up into his room. He did not doubt his decision to help her for a second; after all he knew what it was like to be reborn and alone, with no one to help.

And she looked like she could really use some.

* * *

I woke just in time for the sunrise, the glow of soft orange light pouring through a nearby window. I watched quietly as the golden orb appeared as if it had come from the ocean, turning the once dark sky into yellowy pink shades, realizing an odd feeling of peace over me.

Eventually I sit up on the small yellow couch I had been resting on, unsurprised to see to made from the same substance as the sand on the beach, but this sand seemed much more...Dilute in its attempts to lull me to sleep.

Looking around the room I was intrigued by the texture of the walls. I rested my palm against one of them, feeling it move under my hand in what I thought was happiness; it must not get many visitors.

"That will be me thinking the house is alive." I mumbled, running my hand through my red hair, a puzzled look on my face as I felt the floor underneath me pulse quickly in one direction. The walls also seemingly following the floor's action.

"You want me follow you?" I said aloud, knowing full well the house couldn't answer back as I followed the pulses to a strange little room. I knocked on the sand door, gasping with surprise as my hand went right through it.

Unable to straighten myself quickly enough I shouted out in surprise as I fell forward, through the door and onto the sandy floor beyond.

I quickly got back onto my feet in time to look at my surroundings before the figure in the bed shot up in surprise.

It was a small room, partly empty save for the bed that stood in the middle, which currently held a rather distressed looking Sandman.

Blushing with embarrassment I quickly backed away from the room, explaining myself as fast as I could to the slightly disoriented man.

"I'm sorry, I was just...The floor lead me here and I didn't know the door was really not a door, no wait I..." My rambles were thankfully cut off by a golden whip wrapping across my mouth as the Sandman held up a finger for silence, the figures atop his head saying everything.

_Calm down, its fine. Really._

I did as he said, waiting until the excessive blood was gone from my cheeks before I turned, about to ask him after the general structure of his house and why exactly I fell through the door when he shook his head, obviously still tired and not really willing to answer any questions.

I scratched the back of my head, not really sure on what to say next.

Luckily I didn't have to ask Sandman asked me after my real name. Surprised at how directive he was about it, I continued to scratch my head for a minute but for a new reasoning, I didn't really have one as far as I could remember but he was expecting something so I quickly made something up on the spot, hoping silently that he (and myself) would fall for it.

"Clover L Eprachuan." I said a little too quickly, for his liking anyway.

But he didn't seem in the mood for argument and nodded before gesturing that we leave the strange room.

I silently agreed and we headed back into the room I was sleeping in, gesturing for me to take a seat on the couch I had been using as a bed before using this time to tell me what exactly was going on.

Unfortunately he was 'speaking' a bit too fast for me to understand but I did manage to see a tooth in there somewhere.

I quickly held my hands up for him to slow down before speaking; making sure that he wasn't annoyed by me interrupting him.

"Wait, please can you slow down?" I asked desperately before he nodded and started again, this time slow enough for me to understand, but I could see it slightly frustrated him to talk so slow so I nodded quickly as soon as he reached the end.

_We are both spirits created by the moon to protect children. For instance, I was created to give children good dreams just as you were apparently created to bring them fortune. If a child is in danger from something that has to do with us, then we will protect that child. No matter what. _

_The reason you cannot be seen is because people, children and adults included, do not believe in you as a real person._

I guess he must have seen the brief look of sadness on my face because he stopped in his explanation for a moment to smile sadly, his hand holding mine in what must have been a comforting gesture before he continued on.

_Don't be sad, just because mortals can't see you doesn't mean that other spirits cannot. _

_Besides, you'll find that helping children, whether they can see you or not, is really a blessing, especially when you have friends with you who can relate to your troubles._

I smiled back at him as he said this, already finding myself to be content with this view of life, especially if I got to spend it with friends that would understand my troubles.

_However..._

I frowned at his sudden mood change, turning from happy to serious in a moment, his comforting hand leaving mine as he continued, making sure I had his complete attention before continuing.

_There are some spirits that are created to cause trouble for children, this is natural since you cannot have good without the bad but I have to warn you, these spirits can be dangerous if you are not careful, especially since they do not take kindly to good spirits like us._

"What's to stop them from taking over completely and hurting the children?" I asked curiously, fear picking slowly at my insides before it was flushed out completely by his confident smile, surprising me again with his sudden change of mood.

_The Guardians._

I looked at him for a moment before gesturing for him to elaborate on his statement. He looked at me in confusion before realising his mistake, his cheeks turning a slightly darker Orange as his confident demeanour left him, the images on his head moving a little bit faster than before as he turned his face away from mine in the hopes that I had not seen his heated face.

_The Guardians are a collection of spirits chosen specifically by The Man in the Moon to protect children and other spirits alike._

I giggled quietly at his embarrassed mood, thinking quietly on how cute he looked before deciding to help him get over his mistake with a question.

"So, I'm guessing by your overly confident attitude just then, you're one of the Guardians?"

I guess I must have worded it wrong because his blushed deepened to the point where his ears had turned a deeper Orange as he nodded, his smile a little crooked as he gestured at one of the paintings that hanged on the wall in front of us.

The painting was of a small group of four, but you could tell by their stances and expressions they thought themselves as a family.

A very amused muscled apparently Russian looking man was leaning on the shoulder of what looked like a large fit bunny, who was annoyed by the other man's action.

A strange Bird like woman was next to the bunny, looking as though she was trying to ignore the other men's gestures as she was talking to an apparent smaller version of herself.

And next to her was Sandy, who was oblivious to his friend's postures as he was smiling and holding his hand up in greeting to the person who was making the painting.

I smiled at the painting and turned to Sandy who also seemed to be smiling, but apparently at the memories contained in the painting than the humour that was concealed behind it.

Eventually he seemed to snap out of his thoughts and turned to me, the images above his head going a little slower than usual; obviously he was still thinking about the people in the painting and was unsure of what to say next.

_Usually there really isn't any need for them but they still gather together every once in a while to catch up on any troublesome spirits and such._

I nodded once before he sat up out of the couch and gestured for me to follow him. We walked through his house, rather slowly due to my need to look at everything in the hallways and rooms that he showed me before he finally stopped in front of a closed door, his smile turning softer as he gestured for me to open it.

Before opening it I quickly to see if the door was actually there so I wouldn't fall through it again. Satisfied as my hand touched the soft sand that made up the door's surface I reached for the knob, knowing full well that Sandy was probably trying to muffle his giggles from behind me.

I quickly opened the door, looking around the room with clear confusion and curiosity as I noted its oddity to Sandy.

"It's empty." I said quietly turning to Sandy in confusion, watching as his soft smile turned into a full one, the images above his head seemingly bringing new hope.

_For now_

I could barely contain my excitement as I spoke again, clearly not caring about how my voice raised a fraction.

"Do you mean..." He cuts me off with a question that caused me to hug him tightly in a mixture of pure happiness and relief. I finally had a real friend in this life, someone who would be there for me when I couldn't take not being seen, or when I was sure that my powers were useless, finally, I wasn't alone.

_Aren't you going to stay?_

* * *

**Okay, so so so sorry I didn't update for a while I just had other ideas in my brain that needed to be dealt with before I could do this, so yeah. Review if you can and tell me what you think, constructive criticism is welcome.**


	4. Chapter 4

**This is a very...suggestive chapter, so if you're not really into that kind of thing then stop now.**

**BTW: Whoever Guest is I have to congratulate them on their persistence since it got me off my lazy butt and updating again.**

**Enjoy and Review constructively if you can!**

* * *

It had been a few days since Sandy had let me stay with him, and I had already learned so much.

Sandy had taught me as much as he could possibly shove into my head in one day. He had taught me about the world, (like the fact that it's round! That just blew my mind!) other spirits and even tried to train me in simple combat, but so far I hadn't been doing very well when it came to actually trying to defeat Sandy in a match, it wasn't because I was a terrible fighter, it was that I just didn't have it in me to hurt him, so usually I would just sit there when one of his sand whips unexpectedly knocked me down since the dream giver was expecting me to dodge them, resulting in many an accidental black eye that the poor man felt horribly responsible for despite my reasoning that I was too stupid to get out of the way.

I sat on my new bed that Sandy had made for me recently with his sand, my hands brushing past the light, soft yellow sand that made up the covers as I thought on what I should do today.

Sandy had gone to the other side of the world to deliver his dreams, leaving me alone on his island for the first time since he had let me stay, so I had no one to talk to. I thought briefly on taking another look through the house when I reminded myself that I had already inspected the entirety of my new home due to sheer curiosity mixed with a great amount of boredom, which was doing nothing for me at that moment.

I looked briefly out the window at the sandy beaches and trees beyond before looking away. I hadn't really been outside during the days I had been staying, mostly due to Sandy's warnings but there was also something else.

I felt almost, afraid to go outside on my own, as if something bad would happen to me if I did. But I would usually try to ignore it, today however did not seem to be the same case as boredom was seemingly overtaking my fear, leading my down the stairs and out the door before I could properly think on the consequences.

I stood on the veranda, almost at war with myself to either go back inside and do as Sandy had asked, after all he had been kind enough to let me into his home, the least I could have done is do as he says. Or, I could go out into this strange island and explore it for myself, after all Sandy isn't here and I would be back before he noticed anything different after all, what he doesn't know won't hurt him.

I walked closer towards the sandy beaches, the golden wood like sand of the veranda eventually running out as I was now left with one foot still on the veranda while the other just above the foreign sand of the outside world.

Slowly and carefully, I placed my foot onto the sand then without thinking, did the same with the other.

I waited fearfully for something or someone to jump out of the sand made trees and call me on my injustice, that I was a horrible person for going against my promise to Sandy, but nothing came.

I closed my eyes and walked forward, the once overpowering feeling of the sand on the beach having no effect on me, thanks to Sandy's help over the past few weeks. I stopped walking blindly when I felt my toes being lapped by the ocean and opened my eyes, still fearful that someone (hopefully not Sandy) would magically appear and tell me of for going back on my word, yet there was still no one there.

Slowly I knelt on the sand, gently running my hands through the salty water that slowly got at the edges of my green dress. I smiled, the feeling of the cool water on my hands soothing my frayed nerves as I stood up again and lifted up my dress up to my thighs as I paddled into the water until it was up to my knees, giggling like a small child as I slowly dragged my now weighed down feet through the sand, burying them deep only to kick them out, watching the disturbed sand floated around for a moment before settling back into the ground, my mind completely at ease for the first time today as I decided to relax.

"Hello."

I nearly screamed in fright at the sudden voice that appeared from seemingly nowhere, quickly running out of the water and dropping my hold on the edges of my dress, making sure that I was nowhere near the person who had spoken, my heart nearly falling out of my chest as I noticed that I had left my pot, the only weapon I had, back in the house so I was left unarmed against what might be a potential enemy.

The figure before me had seemingly noticed my fear and smiled, his appearance hidden from me from under a sand tree, the whites of his teeth and eyes were the only way I could tell he was taking amusement in my antics and that his sight was directly on where my once bare legs had been.

"Who are you?" I asked, wincing briefly on how weak my voice sounded as I backed away from the figure and closer to the house.

"Oh I'm a friend of Sandy's" The figure said, his voice sounding as though it could cool butter but I knew he was lying, Sandy had told me about all of his friends and this figure in the shadows acted and sounded nothing like he had described.

"Well he's not here so you might as well leave and wait for him to come back." I said bravely before I realized that I had just told this strange figure that I was alone and seemingly unarmed.

He smiled a little wider than and his eyes traveled from my now covered legs up my waist before settling on my chest, making my cross my arms subconsciously as I continued to back away.

"Well, I'll just have to have you for company until he returns won't I?" He said suggestively as my stomach instantly knotted up and I felt sick to my core, my fears slowly awakening in me, fears that I thought I had left behind me. He stood up from the tree he was leaning on and was about to walk up to me, my mind to busy scaring itself more and more as I reacted in the only way I knew how at that moment.

Quickly I turned and ran for the house, this time screaming out as the figure suddenly appeared in front of me, his appearance now visible in the light.

He was a tall and dark man, and I don't mean in the sense that he was evil looking though he was exactly that, his skin was like ash, almost the same colour as his black robes that covered nearly all of his body. He smiled widened at my scream, his arm quickly grabbing hold of my forearm, almost securing me in place with his own force and my fear.

"Now, now," He said, his hand reaching up and cupping my face, "There's no need to fear me, I won't hurt you, much." He was grinning now, his grip on my face tightening, all the while I could only stand there, my fear refusing to let me push the creep away from me, let alone do anything.

He was about to lean in closer his face to close to mine and I could feel his breath on my cheeks as his lips drew closer to mine. I stiffened, completely unable to do anything as he continued to draw closer until finally, just as his lips were about to connect with mine, immediately I freaked and reacted before it could happen.

I turned my head away from his, at the same time breaking his hold on my face. Before he had time to react I pulled my arm away and sent a good punch to his face. I didn't even take the time to look if my sudden and possibly weak attack had made any contacted as I started running towards the house. I cried out as I nearly tripped on the stairs and in desperation, I lunged myself at the door and quickly twisted the door knob the farthest it would go, nearly crying when I noticed that it wouldn't budge.

"No no no no no..." I whimpered, about to smash one of the windows in order to get inside before screaming again as I felt thin hands twist themselves around my shoulders.

"Now that was rather rude of you, especially since we were getting so acquainted." The man said slyly, his grip tightening once more around my shoulders causing me to wince as I felt his nails dig into my skin. I know what he wanted, he wanted me to beg for him to leave me be but I was not going to submit. All I had to do was keep trying to get away from him until Sandy came back. My eyes briefly looked up at the sky, making sure my head didn't follow in case he noticed. It was sundown; he said he would be back by sundown.

Where is he?

I felt his hands relax on my shoulders and froze as his hands began to drift down my arms. I knew what this was, and I would be damned if I was going to let him go anywhere else with it.

I turned and pushed him away from me and stumbled off the veranda, this was a childish move and I was sure that it only made him more angry but at that moment I was both to afraid and to upset to care. I heard him snarl angrily as he pulled himself off the sand that was attempting to secure him in place.

While he struggled I took that moment to run again, this time away from the house, which was no longer safe. I ran through the sand trees, feeling the ground quiver under me as it tried to show me places to hide from my attacker but every time it found a good place, there he was waiting, slowly looking angrier and angrier as I tried to get away.

Eventually I decided that it would be best to create a rainbow path away from him and as high up as I could manage, but sadly I couldn't seem to focus enough to create even the smallest portions of a path that could save me, my fear somehow blocking it from my mind.

So with that option out of the way I decided to keep running, knowing full well that the moment I stopped was the moment he would catch me.

This game continued for what felt like forever until I eventually began to tire, my legs slowing despite my brain screaming at them to hurry, I could feel him right behind me, his hand almost reaching for my hair as I broke through the trees and back onto the sandy beach, feeling a few futile tears drift from my eyes as I noticed that I was back at the beginning, he had been leading me here the entire time.

I unwillingly collapsed on the ground, my tears continuing to fall. I looked up from my tired stance to see the man standing in front of me, his hand grasping the back of my head as I could almost see the sick thoughts going through his head as he smiled down at me, the anger still burning in his mind which was joined with a sick sense of joy that he won.

"I know what you fear," He whispered, his grip on my hair tightening for the final time, his grin one of dominance as he knew that I couldn't fight back anymore.

"And I will get what I want."

He then knelt, his face slowly came closer to mine, smirking all the way as his lips were once again about to reach mine when he felt something suddenly pulling on his free hand. He looked about in shock and was surprised to see a golden whip around his arm.

"Well hello Sandy," He said, trying to mask his surprise with confidence as he pulled at my hair, causing me to yell out in pain, my voice cracking a small bit in fear.

The Guardian of Dreams was right behind the evil spirit, the images above his head unknown to me as I was looking at the sand below my knees, fear and embarrassment somehow stopping me from looking at my friend. But I could tell from my attacker's reaction that my friend was telling him to let me go.

"Now why would I do that, especially since we've gotten so...intimate." He grinned, his grip forcing my head forward a fraction, almost threating the other spirit that he was ready to go through with his action.

Luckily he was unable to do so as the golden whip around my attacker's other arm and pulled him away from me, his hand sharply pulling at my hair for a moment before realizing, causing me to fall forward onto the sand, almost sobbing with relief as I was saved from this man.

I curled up on the sand as it tried in its own way to comfort me, my sobs blocking out the fight that wasn't that far away from me and I was only aware that my attacker had been beaten off when I felt the small familiar hands of Sandy pulling my off the ground and into his embrace.

I cried even louder as he held me tighter, my own mind confused on what the tears where for, whether they were from gratitude or relief that Sandy had saved me, or from fear and sadness of what could have happened to me if he hadn't got here when he did.

Either way I cried for what felt like days, my sobs only slowing as I realized that there were no more tears left in me but still Sandy still stayed in the same stance, knowing full well that just because my tears had stopped did not mean I was no longer upset.

Eventually the horror of the day and my seemingly never ending tears had rendered me exhausted and I slowly fell into sleep, my head leaning against Sandy's shoulder as I nodded off, the feeling of his small hands running through my curly hair relaxing me even more as unconsciousness took over and finally I closed my eyes.

* * *

Sandy placed Clover into her bed, his face contorted in a mix of both anger and sadness both directed partly as himself as he blamed himself for the events that had taken place while he was away.

He shouldn't have left her on her own; he should have taken her with him. He would have then at least known she was safe.

Sandy felt the sand beneath him shift with his growing anger that he finally directed it at the guilty source, The Nightmare Bringer himself, Sandy felt his hands curling into fists as he watched her sleep fitfully, finding himself completely unable to leave her alone again, almost ...afraid that he would try again.

Pitch...

A sand vase that stood near Sandy suddenly exploded into nothingness, the sand which had created it slowly sinking into the dream giver's form as he thought over what that spirit had done and was going to do to his new friend, the friend that was currently hugging herself to the best of her ability in her sleep.

Sandy frowned, hoping that Pitch had not gotten into her mind as he gently sprinkled some the sand off his head onto hers and watched as her frightened stance relaxed and gradually a smile formed on her face as the good dreams he had created for her did they're work.

He was not going to leave her alone again; he could not risk the chance that Pitch might...

Sandy shook his head, the excess sand falling off his head and back onto the floor that it quickly became a part of.

No, he would not let that happen, not as long as he was alive.

The dream giver looked over at the sleeping spirit, his determination set in completely as he silently gave a promise to her.

_As long as I'm around, no one will hurt you again._


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay! A little earlier this time and double the expectancy. **

**Review if you can, I own nothing but Clover and enjoy!**

* * *

It has been a few weeks since the 'incident' with what Sandy called Pitch and we hadn't really talked about it yet. In fact whenever I attempt to talk to him about it something sand made that happened to be near Sandy at the time would explode and he would have such a scathing look that instantly said that he didn't want to talk about it.

Because of this we hadn't really talked since the incident but strangely enough we did spend more time together than usual as Sandy was almost determined for me to go with him on his night runs, leaving me exhausted and nearly sleeping the whole day away whenever we came back to the island.

I sat on one of Sandy's many dream clouds that he had made for me as he went about his job, watching with keen interest as I intentionally dropped one or two gold coins onto the world below, the pale light of the moon reflecting a bright light as they fell, almost as if the coins were bidding me farewell on their journey to find another owner.

I looked over at the moon, smiling as his light shined on me, leaving me with the strange feeling that he was worried about me. I laughed at this, knowing that the moon defiantly had better things to do than worry about some small spirit like me. I stood up on the shinning cloud, stretching my arms while I yawned, still clearly not use to staying up as late as Sandy, who was currently sitting on the main cloud with his back partly facing away from me as he sent small threads into the welcoming lights of the town below.

Gently I walked off the small yellow cloud and onto a rainbow path I had made in my mind and walked over to him; the cloud I had been sitting on before quickly disappeared as Sandy became aware that I was no longer sitting on it.

I walked slowly over to him, knowing how much it annoyed him when someone interrupted him while he was busy making dreams. I looked over at the many threads that flew down to the city, wondering just what type of dreams Sandy was sending to the children at that moment. Curiously I wandered over to one of the many threads, unaware that the small dream giver was watching my every move as I slowly leaned my hand closer towards it, expecting a small boat or dog come out of it like I saw the first time I met Sandy.

So of course I was surprised that when I touched it I instead felt something rush through my arm and into my heart. I could feel my emotions being manipulated with as tears sprang into my eyes, knowing full well that the emotions I now felt did not belong to me. I briefly looked over at the small golden man who was seemingly busy making more threads, I was sure that what I was feeling had come from him.

I felt, so sad...As I had failed someone when they needed me, like I practically betrayed someone's trust and was now upset as they probably thought I was angry at them instead of myself.

Gasping at this new experience I quickly drew back my hand, not wanting to feel these foreign emotions anymore as I looked back over at Sandy, who now fully had his back to me. Frowning I moved my path over to the now thread-less cloud he was sitting on, my hand gently touching his shoulder as I spoke for the first time that night, my voice a lot smaller than what I thought.

"I don't blame you."

He nodded softly, he knew that but still, he blamed himself. Not really thinking I pushed his back closer to my chest, my arms wrapping around him as I laid my head on the top of his spiky golden hair and we watched the moon set together, the light shinning a little brighter as he noticed that I wasn't alone and happily approved.

We stood like that longer than after the moon had set and the sun had taken its place, only moving when Sandy knew that he had to go to another part of the globe.

Gently he took my hand and we walked to the next location, our paths melding together into a shining white light.

_Nothing you do could make me blame you._

* * *

_290 years later..._

Gently I climbed out of the window of my room, hoping that the now sleeping dream spirit wouldn't notice my absence until I had fully left the island, a small blue knapsack I had slung around my shoulder was filled with my pot and some fruit as I felt an ever familiar light shine on my face, knocking me out of my thoughts as I raised an eyebrow up at The Man in the Moon, who was currently setting into the sand mountains beyond so he was incapable of warning Sandy or convincing me to stop in my attempt to explore outside the island.

"Oh come on Manny, I need to see what else is out there, without Sandy constantly watching over me, I'm not a child you know, I'm 310!" I whispered, not wanting to wake the sleeping sand as I made a rainbow path that would lead me up into the now brightening sky as the shinning Sun rose, giving me the confidence I'm sure she didn't want me to have.

I mean don't get me wrong living with Sandy all those years was great but ever since that incident with Pitch he didn't want to let me go anywhere off the island on my own. I mean the first hundred years I understand him being a little over protective but after the three hundred mark I had to take some kind of rebellion. And thanks to my ever present feelings of guilt it took another ten years until that rebellion even started, and even now I had thoughts of going back since I didn't want to hurt the dream giver's feelings.

During my little daydreaming phase in which I was thinking about how grateful I should be for having Sandy as a friend for all these years I suddenly collided head long with something.

I screamed out as my path was replaced by thin air as my mind becoming so confused and afraid to focus in order to save myself from the impact that gravity granted me. I crashed into a tree during my decent, the cruel world somehow making sure that I hit every branch on my way down before I finally hit the snow covered forest floor, whatever I had collided with landed not that far away from me.

Eventually, after what seemed like forever I regained consciousness, my head pounding as blood rushed through it, giving me the worst headache I had suffered through in such a long time. I sat up, hissing on pain as my head only pounded louder at the movement, causing me to fall back into the comforting cold of the snow. I laid there again for a few minutes, my eyes only able to open small fraction through the snow that was cooling my painful head as I saw for the first time exactly what I had collided with.

It was a boy, around the age of twelve or thirteen was my guess at the time, at that moment he was just as unconscious as I had been only a moment ago, I knew this because his face wasn't currently scrunched up in pain like mine was at that moment. He had white frost like hair and a deathly pale face that made me frightened for a moment as I thought the fall might have killed him by accident.

Apparently this wasn't so as only a few moments later the boy stirred, his head moving slightly as his eyes eventually opened, only to groan and shut them again, his hands clutching his head as he continued to moan in pain, my internal motherly instincts taking over as I gently picked myself out of the warming snow and walked/crawled over to him. Gently I turned him over on his back and shook him, not quite sure on what to say so instead I settled on what I knew.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked softly, jumping back when he suddenly sat up, holding a large staff out in front of him protectively before stoping and rubbing his head again as I did the same, our pain stopping us from attacking each other for that moment.

Eventually the pain seemed to have dulled for the boy as he lowered his staff and looked me in the eye, clearly to exhausted from the headache to get into any fights so instead he decided to interrogate me.

"What was up with that?"

I shrugged subconsciously at the pale boy's question as I started to look through the snow for my knapsack, smiling happily when I finally found it, before taking a moment to rethink what had just occurred. After properly processing what my original reaction should have been I immediately turned back to the teen boy, the same look of surprise covering his face as we both had the same question.

"You can see me?"

* * *

After a few moments s of rightful freaking out we both managed to calm down and reach the proper moment in a greeting when we discover each other's names.

Jack Frost didn't really match any of the descriptions of Sandy's friends or enemies so I was certain that we was a new spirit, but then again it might have been the moment when he seemed a little over stressed on the fact that he was practically invisible to everyone but me as far as he knew that tipped me off.

I tried to explain to him exactly what we were but he seemed a little too interested in showing me these new powers that he discovered he had for me to tell him exactly what he was supposed to do, leaving me to stumble over my explanation while he froze over the umpteenth tree.

"Look, we have to protect... No wait that's not how it starts, umm..." It was also at this time I found myself completely hopeless when it came to explaining something like this so instead I just shrugged my shoulder and watched Jack as he continued to freeze over half the forest, mentally noting to myself that I should take Jack to Sandy, he was better at explaining this whole thing than I obviously was.

A few minutes and a whole frozen forest later Jack finally asked after my powers. Smirking I showed him my rainbow path and pot.

"What else can the pot do?" He asked in awe as I sat on my rainbow path and pulled out a fist full of my coins, for some reason feeling a little more confident in myself as Jack looked at my coins in fascination.

"I use it as a weapon." I said simply before seeing his confused look and added lamely, "It's very heavy." Jack nodded in understanding as he flew over my head, his face suddenly lighting up in apparent mischief as he had an idea.

"Hey guess what? I know someone who's just like us!" Jack said excitedly as I perked up, my curiosity shinning through.

"Really? Who are they?" I asked, Jack scratched the back of his neck in thought as he sat on his cane whilst still in the air before answering, his voice showing a little embarrassment as he spoke.

"Well I haven't really met him, but I do know where he lives! And his name to!" The snow spirit said happily as he floated higher into the air. I followed him on my path, ready as ever to meet someone new.

"Well then tell me his name and let's go!" I said, as Jack grabbed my hand and flew to where this new spirit would be, having to shout as the wind currents blocked out his voice.

"His name's Santa!"

* * *

We soon landed in the coldest part of the earth, I think Sandy once told me it was called North Pole, but I wasn't really sure. I did however, know that Santa, or North as Sandy called him, was a friend of his, I told Jack this, earning an impressed look from the boy as he pointed out that North had been here a long time so Sandy must have been around just as long to call him friend, especially since most spirits never really got the chance to see or even talk to North.

"Why not?" I asked curiously as we flew towards a strange building that definitely contrasted with the continuous icebergs and mountains that the pair had seen for nearly an hour. Jack gave me a moment to look at the absurdness of it all before continuing.

"Because you'd have to break into Santoff Claussen in order to even chat with him, apparently he's too busy for Christmas to give anyone the time of day." Jack said as we floated closer to the building, I noticed that Jack was a little cautious of getting to close.

"Christmas?" I asked, unsure of what exactly the spirit was talking about. He gave a look before seeing that I was actually serious.

"It's a holiday where you get presents and be thankful for what you have, apparently." He said, watching me curiously as I used my rainbow path to get a little closer to what was apparently the home of this strange spirit.

"And where exactly did you learn all of this?" I asked Jack, who shrugged and joined me as we looked through a small window.

"You know, around." He said as I watched fascinated at the strange beings inside. They were like people but way, way smaller and were currently wrapping some sort of ribbon around each other. I looked pointedly at Jack for an explanation.

"Elves, they help North make the presents for the children." He said simply before leading me towards a small cliff of snow, away from any of the window's sight.

"So why exactly are we here if no one can see him?" I asked as Jack smirked.

"We're going to break in, see I have been doing it by myself but so far that hasn't worked."

"And you want my help?" I said sarcastically as Jack nodded his head excitedly, pulling a small piece of paper out of his pocket before showing it to me. It was a map of the building with each room labelled for all to see. I raised an eyebrow at the paper whilst shivering as the cold finally got to me, Jack didn't seem to notice the cold wind, rather the fact that it nearly blew the paper out of his hand.

"And where did you get this? No wait don't tell me, around." I smirked as he nodded, waiting to hear on whether or not I would help him break into another spirits home.

"Come on Clover; don't tell me you don't want to meet him."

He had me there.

I thought it over a little, the first thing coming to mind was that Sandy would absolutely disagree to this but then again, he was probably angry at me right now for sneaking off so what else could I do wrong?

"Sure, I'll help." Jack grinned at my answer and laid the map on the snow, the planning stage for our 'mission' to break into Santoff Claussen began.


	6. Chapter 6

Plan No.1:

Jack walked purposely towards the front doors of Santoff Claussen, knocking a few times before waiting; eventually one of the many Yetis' opened the door.

"Hi Phil!" Jack said happily as the Yeti raised an eyebrow at him in suspicion, clearly already use to Jack's continuous attempts to break in. But apparently knocking on the front door hadn't been tried yet as the Yeti waited for whatever was so strangely important that Jack actually had the decency to knock on the door instead of breaking a window.

Unbeknownst to the poor Yeti I had already managed to sneak in via the window he was supposed to be keeping an eye on. I landed carefully on the wooden and carpeted floor of the base and pulled out the map, taking a moment that I had chose the right window. Smiling in confidence I put the map away and quickly used my rainbow path to lift me above any Yeti's or Elves that might accidentally come across the abandoned Library that I had snuck into.

I waited for a few moments before landing back on the ground and signalling back down at Jack, who was currently telling the Yeti about the wonders of trees. I held my hand out the window for a second, waiting for Jack to fly up to the window before I felt the familiar feeling of someone being directly behind me.

Gulping I turned around to see one of the many Yeti's right behind me, looking a little surprised yet annoyed at my presence.

"Erm, take me to your leader?"

* * *

Jack and I were sitting on a mountain not that far away from Santoff Claussen, my side still hurting a little from when the yeti practically threw me out the door. Jack also looked a little worse for wear as it was him I landed on when they threw me out. Jack rubbed the back of his head a little before speaking.

"Okay, here's what we'll do..."

Plan No.2:

Jack quickly snuck towards the barn where North kept his reindeer, taking a moment to check if they were still penned up. After he was sure they were back in their stalls he nodded at me.

I was currently above him on my usual rainbow path. I nodded back at him and lead my path towards one of the many doors that would lead inside.

As soon as Jack was sure I was there he wrenched open the doors of the barn and used his frost to freeze the locks of the Barn, spooking the reindeer so much they broke through the now frozen locks, shattering them completely and took off, Jack only just managing to fly out of the way in time.

Me meanwhile, I was using nearby planks of wood and shoving them in-between the door handles so no one could get to the reindeer in time.

We both then meet up at a nearby window, the Yeti's had by this point gone out the front in order to get the reindeer back. Jack opened the window as slowly as he could, not wanting any sudden noise to alert any of the elves still left in the building that we were there.

Jack stopped however when we both felt a hot breath on the back of our necks, we looked around to see one of the reindeer, looking a little angrier than usual. I looked over at Jack, unsure of what to do.

"Run."

That seemed like a good plan.

* * *

We were both now a little further away from Santoff Claussen than before, still hiding in fear of the reindeer that was still looking for us, a few hoof print sized bruises on our backs from our attempts to run from its wrath.

"Well that didn't work out but I have another idea!"

We heard a snort coming from behind us.

"But maybe it can wait a little."

"I'm cool with that."

* * *

A few hours later we managed to lose the reindeer as it had been captured by the Yeti's again. The sun by this point had set fully and I was tired above anything else, the cold freezing me to my core as I was shivering like there was no tomorrow.

"Hhhhey, ummm, look it's getting late and I'm really, really cold. Maybe we should try again tomorrow." I said simply. Jack looked a little disappointed but then quickly brightened up, a new idea forming in his mind.

"Hey why don't you..."

* * *

Plan No.3:

I walked up to the front door, my teeth chattering so loudly it was giving me a reasonable headache. I knocked weakly on the door, taking a moment to wave at Jack before turning back to the door as a Yeti opened it. He took one look at me and was about to slam the door shut when I spoke up.

"No wait please, it's so cold..." I whimpered, no acting on my part, I was actually desperate to get inside, where the warmth was. The Yeti gave me another look before walking off, leaving the door open. I looked back at Jack, gesturing for him to come with me but he shook his head, apparently okay with waiting outside while I went in, knowing that when I had the time, I would open a window or something and let him in. I nodded in understanding before walking inside.

I was immediately greeted by another Yeti, who was also glaring at me with distrust before pointing at a hoof mark on his side. I bit my lip, trying to hold in the laughter as I apologized, pointing at my own reindeer related injuries to make him feel better. The Yeti snorted in what I guess must have been amusement as he then lead me through the base, passing tons of rooms and Yeti's creating all these different toys, different types of plane toys and balloons floating above my head, I watched in awe, my freezing nerves forgotten as I watched some elves still wrapping each other in ribbon, the Yeti that was leading me face palmed at their actions before continuing, leaving me to wonder exactly how good Jack's info was since these elves seemed completely useless at making toys.

Eventually the Yeti stopped in front of a large door, about to open it when I stopped him.

"Shouldn't you knock? It's only polite." I said simply. The Yeti's shoulders slumped at this for some reason as he did as I suggested.

"Come in." Said a voice form the other side. The Yeti Breathed a sigh of relief as he opened the door, leading me in before quickly walking out and closing it behind him, leaving me alone with the rooms occupant.

I looked around the room for a moment, clearly to enchanted by the all the ice figurines and Russian dolls to notice the person standing in front of me until they cleared their throat, causing me to jump in fright.

"Umm hello." I said nervously, a little frightened of the person in front of me. He looked exactly like the North that was in the Painting in Sandy's home but I still wanted to be sure, after all I didn't get attacked by an overly vicious reindeer for up to four hours for nothing.

"Are you Santa?" I asked curiously as the Russian man raised an eyebrow, clearly wondering whether or not I was actually being serious with him before nodding. I sighed in relief before holding out my hand.

"I'm the Leprechaun but people call me Clover." I said politely, clearly surprising North as he looked at me for a whole minute before shaking my hand.

"Nice to meet you Clover, now if you don't mind telling me, why did you release all my reindeer and try to break one of my windows?" I frowned a little at this, my cheeks turning reds with embarrassment as I tried to explain, my voice running a mile a minute as I was afraid of messing up, I also made sure not to mention Jack so he wouldn't get into trouble.

"Well you see, I don't really know that many spirits like me and everyone knows Santa but I heard that You don't really see anyone since you're so busy with your holiday and everything and I was curious and Sandy told me that you were nice so I thought-"

"Wait you know Sandman?" North interrupted, I gulped before continuing.

"Yeah, I live with him." I said carefully, my voice a little higher in pitch then usual as I was more than nervous on what North would do next.

"Strange, I thought Sandy didn't have time for anyone since he was so busy." North said, I smiled and bowed my head a little more.

"He actually spends allot of time with me if you'd believe that." I said carefully. I felt one of his fingers lifting my chin so my eyes made contact with his.

"How did you get all the way here from Sandy's island?" He said, his voice somehow calming my nerves. I stood back a bit and lifted one foot in the air, a small patch of rainbow created from my mind as I lifted my other foot onto it.

"I have rainbow power." I said simply, North watched, a little surprised by this event but otherwise accepting and nodded.

"That makes sense but, won't Sandy be worried that you've been gone for a while?"

I frowned at this as I thought over the panic attack poor Sandy must be having at that moment. He was probably searching the whole globe for me by now.

"I didn't think about that." I said, voice growing in hysteria as I looked back up North. How could I have been so selfish? Sandy lets me stay with him for this long and I pay him back like this? I'll be lucky if he even lets me in the house again, I'm a terrible friend.

"Look I have to go, Sandy's probably having a heart attack as we speak." I went towards the door when North's hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"I'll send a message to Sandy that you're here, it's too late at night for you to go off running outside you'll freeze to death, sleep here until morning and I'll take you back to Sandy's island." He said simply as I smiled at him in appreciation.

"Thank you." I said as he led me out of the office and into a spare room. It was small and only had one bed and a dresser. I thanked him again as he left to go back to his work. Leaving me alone in the room. After a few seconds I opened a nearby window and waited for Jack to come in.

"What took you so long?" The frost spirit said as he landed on the wooden floor boards, a little tired from flying around Santoff Claussen multiple times.

"I saw Santa!" I squealed happily as I jumped up and down on the bed, my excitement apparently degrading my reactions to that of a five year old. Jack didn't seem to notice however as he was just as excited as I was.

"Aw really what's he like?"

"He's taller than anyone I've ever met! And his voice is so scary! I was afraid to look him in the eye!" I said happily, my frayed nerves confusing my feelings as I sat back down on the bed, the frost spirit sitting next to me.

"Well what do we do now?" Jack asked as I laid down on the bed, exhausted beyond belief.

"Well I'm going to bed Jack, you're free to wander around if you like but if you get caught I can't let you in since the Yeti's already think I'm suspicious." I yawned as I eventually covered myself under the warm blankets of the spare bed, not noticing Jack lying down on the floor beside me.

"Nah thanks, I'm a little tired as well so I'll just sleep to. See you in the morning." Jack said briefly as I closed my eyes, sleep taking me faster than usual, but sadly I knew that I would not be greeted by any dreams tonight.

I didn't deserve it in my opinion.

* * *

The next morning I woke to find Jack already gone and a note on my table. I took the note and read through it quickly, noting that the paper was apparently ripped off the map.

_Had to go before any Yeti's caught me, I'll see you again some time._

_Promise._

_Jack._

I grinned and placed the note in my pocket. Not even bothering to change my cloths I walked out of the spare room and towards North's office. There weren't that many Yetis' out this early so I was able to get there without any trouble.

I knocked on the door for a moment before entering to see North working on a ice sculpture at his desk. He looked up in time to see me enter and smiled.

"Ready to go?" He asked and I frowned, I wasn't really looking forward to the trouble I would get into when I got back to Sandy's island but I knew I'd have to face it sometime.

"Yeah okay."

* * *

Sometime later we were flying through the sky in North's sleigh at a faster rate than I had ever gone before so I was a bit freaked out at first but I eventually got used to it and threw my hands up in the air in excitement.

Eventually though the sleigh made it to Sandy's island, and I was making the best attempt to be seen early on in the conversation North was having with Sandy. Though after a while I did have to leave the sleigh as North did have a tone of work to do back at Santoff Claussen.

So there I was, left on the beach, Sandy was already in the house, waiting for me. No doubt ready to tear me a new one.

I sighed, knowing that I was definitely unable to put off what I rightly desrved anymore so I went inside the house where my worried friend was waiting.

_Please don't hate me._


	7. Chapter 7

**I have decided that I will release three chapters month, two at once if possible, maybe only two if I don't really have the time, maybe four if I'm free for time. Either way this is the plan.**

**I own nothing but Clover**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

I stood silently in the doorway, a very decent sized lump in my throat caused by my own guilt as Sandy was sitting nearby at the kitchen table. He heard me come in but had yet to recognize my existence. I wanted to move away from the doorway but I couldn't, since all I wanted to do was run away from this. I didn't want to face up to it, or recognize the fact that I had done wrong and hurt my friend. I wanted Sandy to ignore what I had done and to forgive me, to pretend that this never happened.

But that would be wrong and selfish of me, Sandy has every right to be angry at me right now and I should listen to him.

So I have to move away from the door.

It took a little longer than it should have due to my cowardice but I managed to move a few small steps closer to where Sandy was sitting. He then turned around and his expression forced me back a few steps, cancelling out any progress I had made in those few nerve racking seconds.

He looked so hurt, his golden eyes were watery and down casted so that he wasn't even looking at me, more at the ground. The lump in my throat grew a great deal more as figures appeared above his head.

_Why?_

I looked down at my feet, unable to say anything for a few moments before I looked back up again, his eyes accidentally meeting mine. The liquid in his eyes was beginning to grow as my silence continued; quickly I selfishly came up with something so I wouldn't have to see him cry.

"I...I don't know..." I whispered mostly to myself as I was also unsure and upset at myself for making my friend worry. I looked up again to see that Sandy's demeanor had changed, he was no longer upset and worried, but really rather angry.

I stumbled back a couple of steps just as a sand item that was rather close to me exploded. I gasped in fear and jumped back from where the item had exploded, my eyes returning back to Sandy as he now had his back to me again.

"I-"

_I didn't know where you went, I thought..._

Sandy shook his head his hands curled up into fists by his sides as he continued; only succeeding in frightening me even more.

_I thought Pitch had taken you..._

The lump in my throat finally won out as tears sprang into my eyes, my thoughts spinning back to that horrible day when I met the Nightmare King, my fears of that spirit had only grown over time and apparently, the same had been done for Sandy.

I stifled the smallest of sobs as I realized how easy it could have been for Pitch to actually take me. How easy it could have been for Jack to actually have been Pitch in disguise or how he could have taken me when I was alone.

I left to go see the world by myself, and could have very easily never have come back.

And as far as Sandy knew at the time, that was exactly what happened.

I slowly sat myself on the floor, my emotions to out of control to let keep standing as the tears escaped from my eyes and slid down my face. The only salvation I found in this was that Sandy still had his back to me and couldn't see my selfish tears.

I hated this feeling, this guilty lump in my throat to the sticky, salty tears that ran down my face. I felt ugly for being this way, for making Sandy feel like this for even a moment. I hated it, but at the same time it was exactly what I deserved. I sat there for a few more moments after I had finally gotten control over my tears again and managed to recede them, if only a little. I had been looking down in my lap the entire time I had cried, my long hair managing to mask my red face and tears, but sadly did nothing for my shaking shoulders as I continued to sob silently.

I didn't want Sandy to turn around because I know that if he did, he would feel guilty for making me sad, he would talk to me, convince me that he should shoulder part of the blame when that isn't even close to the truth. I wanted him to walk away, to leave me like this until he saw fit to speak to me again; part of my brain convinced that when he did, he would most likely tell me to leave.

Sadly life, or rather the spirit life does not work out like this and Sandy did eventually turn around. He floated a little closer to my calmer form, I was no longer crying as I was sure I had spent out nearly all of the emotion and liquid left in my body to do so. Though when I felt Sandy's small hand on my head a few more tears managed to find their way out of the smallest cracks of my eyes as I tried my best to keep the closed.

His other hand tried to lift my chin so I would look him in the eye but I childishly refused, turning my head away from his touch. My head bowed even further as I didn't want Sandy to look at me. Sandy, instead of leaving me be like I deserved tired and succeeded again in lifting my chin to look him in the eye.

He didn't look hurt, or angry or anything practically anything else. He was calm and emotionless. His hand moved away from my chin and upwards to my cheek. He remained expressionless as figures were created over his head.

_I'm happy you're safe._

I stood then, my guilty grief turning quickly to anger as I finally spoke.

"Happy? Don't be happy with me, I did this to you, I made you worry about me, I was selfish and ran off. I don't deserve for you to be happy with me." I hissed as I walked away from him. Sandy still kept his expressionless state as he responded, obviously knowing that if he tried to convince me to harshly of whether or not he should be happy or angry with me was not going to work out well at all and someone would be even more ticked off by the end of the day.

_Then what do you deserve?_

"I, I don't know, just...Just don't talk to me for a while." I sighed as I walked out of the room. Sandy looked as though he was going to follow me for a few minutes but nodded to himself and left the kitchen in the other direction, wondering to himself whether or not that actually counted as an argument.

* * *

It had been a few days, probably weeks since sandy had talked to me, and already I was regretting my decision on my punishment as I had no one to talk to at all.

The moon, I wasn't sure if he was ignoring me or not as he was way too far away for me to even clue in on what he felt of the situation and Jack had yet to make an appearance since I had last seen him, leading to me spending these few weeks of practical solitude in my room, reading as many books as I possibly could in the mean time.

I still went with Sandy during his night trips as I also had a job to do as a spirit of 'fortune'. These trips were spent completely in silence, leaving me time to perfect my skills of coin placing as I no longer just dropped them from the sand clouds. This had mostly to do with the fact that the last time I did it, I knocked a guy out stone cold as the coin I had was dropped from the farthest of the ground I had ever gone.

Naturally that was the point when I decided to actually go into the town and place them on the ground so none accidentally pierced a guy's skull...again.

It was on one of these many trips when I was busy dropping coins occasionally on the cobble street that I noticed a guy walking across the street. This was a natural occurrence of course, beside from the fact that there was an out of control horse carriage coming right for him. Thinking quickly (read: not thinking at all.) I ran over to him and pushed him out of the way. He landed on the cobblestone behind him, the horse carriage missing him only by centimetres as it ran past.

The man sat up from his place and sighed in relief as he saw the carriage. He then looked around to see what or who must have pushed him out of the way before shrugging and looking up into the sky.

"That was lucky." I gave this man a strange look ( not that he would explain himself what with me being all invisible and all that.) before continuing on my way, wondering just what 'lucky' was supposed to mean. I spoke the word to myself a few times, liking how it rolled off my tongue before reached a street corner and my mind actually clued in on something I had partly forgotten.

Lucky meant fortune and I was an idiot.

Funny how the latter always seemed to occur to me at the last second.

Anyway, after my little sad realization at another part of the English Language I walked off on my rainbow path up to where Sandy was waiting, his work apparently finished a long time ago as he was all ready to leave. I nodded once at him, the only attempt at communication that I would allow myself to give and we floated off to another town for Sandy to work his magic while I took a break, not wanting to spread to much 'luck' (I was staring to like using that word already.) to more than one town at a time.

Sandy was busy making his dream threads when he smiled mischievously and sent a thread my way, of course I was unaware of this fact until I felt it wrap around my arm and pull him over to me. I squealed in surprise as I was suddenly dragged into his embrace, his arms wrapped around me securely so I could not fight back. My surprise quickly turned into giggles as I felt the sand around him starting to tickle me. I squealed again as I struggled a little under his grip, laughing as I yelled out in mock mercy.

"Okay, okay we can talk again!" Sandy seemed to be happy with this as he released his hold on me and seemed to laugh himself as I collapsed next to him still laughing. As soon as my laughter died down I managed to sit up next to him again and nearly tackled him with a hug, relived as ever to finally talk to my friend again.

* * *

We spoke for practically hours, which was surprising as we only had no spoken in only a few weeks and yet there seemed to be a lot we had missed on each other. I told Sandy about Jack, our attempts to break into Santoff Claussen and meeting North. Sandy didn't seem all that surprised and in fact was rather amused when I told him about the blood thirsty reindeers.

Apparently Sandy didn't really think that he must not have done that much exciting as he really didn't have that much to tell me no matter how much I asked. He just sat and listened to me, often asking questions or was laughing too hard to ask anything.

Eventually my story ended and silence followed. Neither of us attempted to interrupt it as we watched the sunrise again like we did every night. I leaned on Sandy's shoulder and he did the same. At some time later however we had to get going to either back to island or to another part of the world.

Sandy lifted his head off my shoulder and waved his hand out in front of him, the cloud we were sitting on turning into a small two front seated airplane so I wouldn't have to move away. We then flew off to another part of the world, the both of us happy to leave our issue behind us.

* * *

Later that day I was sitting out on the beach of the island, the waves slightly lapping at my feet while the sand of the beach rose up to create a small chair for me to sit on.

I stayed like this for a few moments, knowing full well that Sandy was inside the house in his planning room creating new dreams for the children of the world. I thought it best to give him peace for him to work for what he loved.

The warmth of the sun slightly toasted my skin, the temperature giving me the right moment to put me to sleep.

"Hey!"

I jumped in surprise as a familiar spirit flew right up to my almost sleeping face, causing me to accidentally head butt him.

"Ow!" We both yelled out as I stood up, the chair behind me falling back into sand as its creator was no doubt warned of the other spirits presence. Eventually we both managed to get over our shared headache and greet each other.

"Hey Clover!"

"Hello Jack, where have you been for the past few days?" I asked as he shrugged before smiling again, his eyes lighting up with the same mischief that I had seen when I had first met him.

"I met this other spirit and ...he's real fun, you should meet him." Jack said humorously, giving me the clear indication that he was annoying this poor spirit from night to day.

And he obviously wanted me to join him.

"Come on Jack, breaking in Santoff Claussen is one thing since I wanted to meet Santa, this is different. I don't want to annoy someone I don't even know." I said seriously to the frost spirit, who frowned and took my hand, lightly pulling me into the air.

"Come on Clover please?" He asked his eyes round and pleading as I sighed. I knew I couldn't say no to that but first there was something I had to do.

"Okay Jack but I have to go get something first okay? Now put me on the ground." Jack did as I asked and I quickly ran back to the house to collect my pot. As I went in I saw Sandy walking down the stairs, obviously more than a little tired after his recent long working hours. He waved at me for a moment before walking into the kitchen for some water.

"Hey Sandy I'm going somewhere with my new friend that I told you about, Jack. I'll be back at the earliest that I can." I said as I quickly hugged the small man, who nodded before figures appeared above his head.

_Fine, the peace will give me time to work. But be back before I'm gone.  
_

I laughed at his response before grabbing my pot and going after the already flying spirit outside.

* * *

A few short minutes later I managed to catch up with Jack on my rainbow path.

"So where which unfortunate spirit are we going to rain our type attention onto." I yelled over the wind as Jack laughed before answering.

"The Easter Rabbit!" I rolled my eyes at his explanation, hoping that whenever he wanted to actually be around me, this wasn't all he could think of as a way to get to know me. Plus this whole annoying spirits thing could really backfire on the poor guy.

Jack led me across the ocean to the main land, stopping only when he reached this large open hole in the ground.

"Huh," The younger spirit said mostly to himself in surprise "I thought he would have closed it by now, ah well. Ready?" he finally asked me, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"Ready for what?" I asked as Jack floated up above me. The spirit only smiled in answer and landed behind me before finally saying something.

"For this!" He yelled happily as he pushed me down the hole, before jumping down after me. I screamed in surprise for a few moments as I fell before finally laughing in excitement as I created a rainbow path to make it easier to slide down the longest hole I had ever seen. Jack eventually caught up to me as he was practically bomb diving down the tunnel beside me.

"This is great!" I yelled to him as we continued to fall down the tunnel. Where it would end, I had no idea.

But I knew it was gonna be fun either way.

* * *

**Okay review if you can, constructive criticism welcome. **


	8. Chapter 8

**(Ducks as random objects are thrown at me)**

**Okay, okay I'm sorry I took so long! Here's the chapter I own nothing but Clover and review if you can, please enjoy!**

**(Runs off)**

* * *

Sandy watched the town below him on his sand cloud, his dream threads eventually joining back into his cloud as his job was finally done for the night. However the happy dreams of the children was not the only thing on his mind this night as he thought after the absence of his red haired friend.

He knew he should trust her, and he really did want to believe that she could take care of herself just fine on her own, besides she apparently had a frost spirit joining her on her adventures so it wasn't as if she was alone.

But still...

The sand spirit shook his head for the hundredth time that night, trying to shake away the worry he shouldn't feel in this situation.

He wasn't her father, her brother or anything like that, he was a friend.

A friend who didn't mind if she went off on her own or who she hung out with, even if he didn't know who they were or whether or not they were actually safe people for her to be around, not to mention the fact that Pitch was always good at disguises and...

Sandy became aware that he was punching his sand cloud rather viciously and stopped, his fists still clenched by his side as he tried to calm his mind.

_Stop worrying, she's fine, stop worrying, she's fine, stop-_

"Hey Sandy I'm back!"

_Oh thank God..._

* * *

For the hundreds of years I had lived with Sandy, he had never really hugged me. I mean of course we hugged every now and again but it was always me who had to start the agenda. I knew it was nothing personal on Sandy's part; he just wasn't good at being close to someone. What with the small man having lived alone until now.

So when I returned after my day with Jack I had to admit that I was a little shocked when he practically tackled me.

"So I guess you were worried about me?" I said practically to myself as he didn't reply, I laughed a little under my breath, well to be realistic it was more like out of breath as Sandy was squeezing me really hard. I patted his back gently, hoping this would be enough for him to release his death grip and let me breath.

Fortunately this seemed to work as Sandy eventually let me go, finally taking a moment to see my fully disheveled appearance. My dress and skin was covered in paint of various colors and textures, leaving not even a single spot of its former green behind, while my curly red hair had blades of grass and clumps of dirt in various places. The worst bit that seemed to top it all off, and break Sandy's control of his laughter, had to be the absurd amounts of glitter that was practically dumped all over me.

As Sandy was letting loose what had to have been the longest period of silent laughter that I had ever heard or rather, not heard, figures eventually showed up over his head. They were rather faint and over pronounced whenever he was in taking breath or trying to hold it in but I managed to get the gist of what he had said.

_What happened to you?_

"I met the Easter Bunny." I said bluntly as Sandy continued to laugh silently, ignoring me as I sat quietly on my rainbow path, waiting patiently for him to calm himself down enough for a reasonable conversation.

_So tell me about it_

"Oh so you're done laughing?" I muttered sarcastically.

_Not really..._

"Ugh never mind...Well first of all I blame Jack for all this..."

* * *

We had arrived in the Easter Bunny's burrow some time ago and still I was trying to get over how beautiful it truly was. Of course Jack had gotten over by this point as he had been there way more times than I had, which was obvious by the way he conducted the rather intricate pranks he was going to pull on this poor unsuspecting spirit.

We were sitting under one of the large roots of the burrow, just far enough so the rabbit wouldn't find us, yet close enough to the exit should we be found out any sooner than we expected.

"So why exactly are you terrorizing this particular spirit anyway?"

"Simple, I wanted to get to know him and he disagreed." Jack shrugged as he continued pointing at the plan he had drawn into the soil while I sighed.

"Of course he did..."

* * *

Plan No. 1:

I was waiting patiently up the top of one of the largest trees in the burrow, my pot practically filled to the brim with paint from the nearby river as I waited for Jack's signal to fling it out at the unsuspecting rabbit that would run past at any time.

Finally after what felt like forever the frost spirit flew past at a fast rate, taking this as the signal I quickly threw the paint out in front of me.

What I didn't expect was the backlash of air from Jack's hasty retreat as it flung the paint right back at me, the universe making sure that it stained every corner of my dress and skin, my pot also neatly landing on my head. That was around the time my frosty friend decided to check on me.

As he laughed I silently lifted my pot off my head and wiped the paint from my eyes, my only comment somehow causing Jack to nearly die from hysterics.

"Well, that didn't work out the way I expected."

* * *

"It's not that bad, really."

"Really? I'm completely covered in the stuff! Besides why were you flying so fast in the first place?"

"Ummm..." Jack scratched the back of his neck and I sighed again, wondering if I was ever going to faint thanks to my multiple, exhausted intakes of breath.

"You know what? I don't even care. Just tell me what we're doing next."

"Really! Thanks Clover!" Jack looked as though he was going to slap me on my back but notably paused when he saw the paint also covered my back.

"Yeah,yeah. Now help me wipe this stuff off my face will you?"

* * *

Plan No.2

I turn quickly to Sandy as I continued to tell him about my day, not surprised in the least that he's already holding in laughter, again.

"Overall I think this one was worse than the paint incident, I still have bruises on my back..."

* * *

In this Plan we were actually able to land a certain amount of annoyance on the ever elusive rabbit but once again, it was at my expense.

Because of course it was.

Anyway, Jack this time planned to lay the perfect trap for the furry spirit, and now that I relayed the plan to Sandy it seemed to lose the credibility I thought it had at the time. The plan, in Jack's words not mine, was to tackle the rabbit and pummel him with as many snow balls as Jack could make and keep frozen in one sitting.

Apparently Jack had decided that he modest direct approach was the best bet, why he never did this before is a mystery to me.

We were just pouncing to attack, my arms around his neck to hold him in place while Jack readied his snow balls when all of a sudden the laws of physics decided to remind me that this rabbit spirit was not only taller than me, but also a hell of a lot stronger to. So within two seconds of me restraining him, he managed to fling me right off his back and onto the ground. I yelled out in surprise as I landed on the ground, twigs, leaves and all sorts of other things that I now exclusively hate about nature tangling themselves into my hair as soon as I landed.

Jack managed to get out of that rightful consequence himself as he quickly flew into the air, leaving me to groan pitifully on the floor as the rabbit completely ignored me, threw one or two insults at Jack that I was surprised a guardian of children would even know before turning around and going back to his work, grumbling about young spirits and disrespect all the way.

"Hey you okay?"

"Oh I'm fine."

"Really?"

"Of course not!"

* * *

It was around this time that I started to have my doubts on whether or not Jack was actually totally invested in this whole 'get the Easter Bunny thing', but by that point I didn't care.

Because I totally wanted to go after the fuzz ball myself.

And it was because of this that I faced through multiple unnecessary paintings, got flung through the air more than once and of course there was the infamous reasoning behind me being completely covered in glitter.

* * *

Plan No. ... Do you even care?

I sat carefully atop one of the highest boulders in the burrow, looking everywhere for the elusive rabbit. Jack was floating a little above my head, occupying his time while I brooded by making a snow ball and every so often throwing them at unsuspecting moving boulders, causing some of them to fall over in the confusion.

"Hey, you got any new ideas, I'm all out."

"Already? That's just not like you Jack. But yeah, I've got an idea."

"Okay let's go!"

We jumped down from the boulder to the ground below, my path and his flying ability stopping us from meeting the short stop at the bottom. I looked around for a moment before nodding to the frost spirit and gesturing for him to follow me. We walked carefully around the large groups of eggs of all different colours, textures and lights walking together, the lines they were walking in representing a rainbow as they walked into their respected tunnels to different parts of the globe, all round a rather beautiful sight.

I had to admit; thought the bunny was annoying a little since he practically flattened me into the ground when it wasn't necessary, he was a beautiful artist when it came to painting.

Silence spread in-between me and the frosty spirit as we watched the eggs march, something that is not only rare but broken rather easily around someone like Jack Frost.

"So what exactly are you planning?"

"Nothing that special, but whatever happens from here, we can't break any eggs, Okay?"

"Okay, but why?"

"It seems wrong to mess up such...good work, don't you think?"

"I guess..." I looked over at him, seeing that he didn't really understand that much, but would do as I asked, which was enough for me.

As soon as the awkward silence between us passed I lead Jack into the area the eggs were marching out of. Hoping that my suspicions were correct, I lead Jack through the tunnel, the both of us hiding behind any large roots or boulders we could find if any eggs came to close. Eventually we reached a specific part in the large tunnel were the dirt and roots gave away to flat and shining tiles of all different colors, the ground below us following suit.

I looked around, once again impressed by the bunny's craftsmanship, some of the tiles on the walls above our heads showed beautiful paintings of children finding Easter eggs of all different shapes and sizes.

"I think he's going for a theme here." Jack mumbled to himself, I giggled in response before gasping and shoving the frostbitten boy behind one of the many boulders nearby.

"Hey what-" He started before I quickly covered his mouth and pointed at where we were just standing, the very spirit we had been looking for standing exactly there. Jack nodded in understanding before moving my hand away, giving a straight look as he started to form a snow ball in his hands.

I grinned and gingerly took the snowball, the cold of the snow feeling unnatural in my usually warm hands as I quickly got ready to throw. I was quickly halted in my movements as I saw the rabbit's ear twitching for only a second before he turned around completely, his features showing just how annoyed he was at us before he started to walk slowly towards us.

"Throw it anyway?"

"Throw it anyway."

* * *

Only a few seconds later Jack and I were running as fast as we could through the tunnels of the burrow, the bunny always seeming to be only a few paces behind us no matter how fast we went or what we did.

We first fled from the main tunnel, the both of us trying as hard as we could not to run into any eggs in an attempt not to break any of them. Because of this I wasn't really watching where my path was taking me and ended up smacking right into a boulder and falling into a small glitter pond below.

"Clover? Are you okay?!" Jack yelled worryingly as he and the rabbit stood by the side of the pond while I did my best to climb out of it, a decent sized bump showing up on my head as I stumbled around, unable to find my footing for a good few minutes.

"I'm...I'm fine just give me a minute." I mumbled as I fell back on the grassy floor, my head swaying every which way slowly in an attempt to gain leveled consciousness. The rabbit walked over and lifted my head to look at the bump on my head.

"It's just some minor swelling, should go away in a while." He said neutrally as I childishly poked my tongue at him in response. The rabbit sighed and let go off my head and looked over at Jack, his tone showing more annoyance than he had previously.

"Jack its one thing to annoy me yourself, but don't go dragging other spirits into this." Jack looked genuinely offended at this, at least in my wobbly eyesight he did, so I quickly defended him.

"He didn't drag me, I wanted to go." I said rather clumsily, my head still a little woozy but my temperamental nature remaining. The rabbit sighed and looked back over at me.

"Why?" I actually had to think on his question for a few seconds before smirking.

"I wanted to meet you." The rabbit shook his head.

"There are better ways of doing that."

"But it wouldn't be as fun would it?" Jack said happily as I grinning along with him, his words making perfect sense as I realized exactly why I joined Jack on these pranks and adventures. It wasn't to meet other spirits or to see new sights, though that came along with it. I just...wanted to have fun.

Oh sure it wasn't like living with and spending time with Sandy wasn't fun either, I was just happy to also spend time with someone kind of around my maturity level.

"Whatever, but you guys better leave before you do any real damage." The Easter Rabbit mumbled angrily before walking off, leaving Jack to finally laugh at my current appearance.

"Pfft, Clover you should see how you look, it's hilarious!" He laughed as he walked over to me and helped me to my feet. As he laughed I quietly walked behind him.

"Oh really, perhaps you'd like to join me?" I said carelessly as I quickly pushed the frost spirit into the glitter pond. Jack yelled out in surprise as he fell. Not wanting to wait around for the frost spirit's favorite form of revenge I quickly took off, a trail of laughter left behind me.

"See ya Jack!" I yelled loudly as my path lead me through the tunnels and up into the sky beyond.

* * *

"And that's what happened and- are you asleep?" I asked my sand friend, who suddenly sat up and shook his head wildly. Sighing I sit up from where I was lying down and looked over at the sun, it was still in the sky, meaning that neither of us really had anything to do. I turn back to Sandy with a tired look in my eyes as the days events finally caught up with me, suddenly the thought of falling asleep on the sand cloud wasn't that unappealing.

"Whatever, look can we go home now? I really need a shower." Sandy smirked a little and nodded, quickly conjuring the clod we had been sitting on into a plane. As we flew off home I looked down at the world below as we flew, grinning when we passed a certain familiar island.

...

"Hey Sandy? How long does it take to get glitter out of your hair?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Really sorry you guys, but I hate to tell you this, but it might be a little while longer before I update again since I have tests coming up in school and I have to focus!**

**(Walks over to computer to study,)**

**Five hours later...**

**Maybe I should update...**

**I own nothing but Clover. **

**Enjoy this while I umm...study... **

* * *

Jack looked over at me as we sat silently in a tree, what country or forest, we weren't really sure, but we were happy just to hang around and watch the sun set over hills. Nothing had really been going on for the past few weeks, what with the both of us somehow annoying the ever living life out of every spirit to date, which of course left us with absolutely nothing to do.

Which of course, got us to talking, which lead us to thinking.

"Hey Clover..."

"Hmm?"

The frosted spirit looked down at me from the high branch he had been leaning on, a curious look all through his features.

"I once heard about this kind of celebration that people have, see they have some kind of sweet pastry type thing every once a year and-"

"I think you mean Cake Jack, and Birthdays?" The last was obviously a question as my memories weren't really that good on the lessons I received from Sandy nearly 300 years ago.

Jack sat up a bit more and nodded, "And it got me to wondering if..."

"If we have birthdays?"

"Yeah!" I chuckled before looking at Jack as seriously as I could, the smile still tugging at the sides of my lips all the while.

"Jack I hate to tell you this but, I have to ask Sandy nearly every week on exactly how old I am." Jack raised is eyebrow before shaking his head, accepting this as just one of my little quirks of life.

"You don't know?"

"I don't particularly care enough to remember really, do you know your birthday?"

Jack had jumped down to my branch by this point and was sitting next to me as he thought, his cane sitting under his chin as he did so before turning to me and smiling, not noticing in the slightest that the branch had grown a reasonable amount of Frost around it, causing me to shiver slightly.

"How about we make today our birthday?" I smiled before frowning again; cocking my head to the ideas something very important was missing from the frosty spirits plans.

"Do you know the date today?"

"...Oh..."

And so it was that a few weeks later when we finally managed to not only remember our promise but also agree on a date, it was decided that our birthday was: the 17th of March! (Well for me anyway, I think Jack must have liked December allot more, but maybe that's just because it was closer to winter and Christmas, figures.)

* * *

I walked back towards Sandy's house, my pot swinging from my rather loose feeling arm as I returned home from another relatively non-life threating and peaceful day with my ice covered friend.

Stopping quickly at the door I wiped my feet on the mat below, not want any dirt to be tracked through the house (again) before finally letting myself in. I walked though the kitchen and into the nearby study, my sights set on looking for an ever familiar Sand guardian.

Eventually I did spot him sitting at his desk, working as ever vigilantly as he always did on new dreams. I went in to greet him only to find him with at least half the conscious awareness that I had left him with. This was further cemented when he made some sand formations of what I hope weren't going to be dreams for the children, one of them being of a man clearly falling out of a tree continuously for no real reason.

"Okay, I think you've worked hard enough..." I muttered to myself as I quickly lead the small man away from his desk and upstairs to his room, the spirit to exhaust and sapped of energy to argue as I put him to bed.

"Now sleep." I said softly before looking over to see that Sandy had surprisingly already done so. I smiled as I lifted the covers of his bed over him before finally leaving the room, sure that Sandy would be asleep for a good long time.

I walked down the steps of our home, wondering briefly to myself whether or not Sandy actually had any dreams of his own. I mean, I knew he must have dreams, everyone did. I just wondered, who made them?

As I reached the bottom of the steps and looked pointedly towards the front door, wondering whether or not to actually go outside, before deciding not to as there would nothing I could really do out there that wouldn't just as easily provide my boredom than the house did.

Entering the sitting room, I lounged for a while on the couch, looking up at all the paintings with curiosity as each and every one of them told a completely different and just as exciting story as the last one.

I was currently inspecting a strange painting of a small boy out on a beach when a sudden light from outside caught my eye. I briefly looked away from the painting and walked closer to the nearby window, making sure not to open it in any way as I looked out at the sky, fascinated by the strange rainbow like lights glided across the slowly growing darker sky as the sun set on another day.

The lights were so engrossing that I didn't notice that someone was in front of the window until they knocked softly on the glass. I jumped back in fear as the person, who by the way was hidden slightly by the shadows of fading daylight, waved for a second before noticing how afraid I was and stepped into the light of the window.

"Hey, let us in will ya? We gotta talk to Sandy." Bunny waited patiently as I quickly nodded and ran back to the front door and opening it quickly, squeaking in fear as North, who was previously leaning against the now opened door, nearly fell on top of me. Luckily I managed to jump out of the way while he, Bunny who was also caught by surprise and tripped over the fallen North in his attempt to get into the house and out of the slightly growing darker and colder climate. The only one in the group that hadn't fallen flat on their face was a strange bird like spirit who had shot up in the air, safely above the growing pandemonium. I stared at the bird like spirit for a few seconds before turning and running up stairs to wake up my friend, not wanting to be left alone with these people without someone I knew with me.

"Sandy?" I said quietly as I opened the sand spirits bedroom door and walked inside; watching the small spirit sleep for a few seconds before shaking my head, no need to wake him up just yet, lord knows when I'll be able to get him to sleep again.

So with a rather high heart rate and sweaty palms, I walked back down the stairs to talk to the group that was waiting downstairs, hoping that I wouldn't embarrass myself to the point of fainting.

* * *

"So where is he?" Bunny said from his seat in the lounge room as the group suddenly noticed my presence, thankfully not mentioning that I had been hiding around the corner for at least twenty seconds longer than usual.

"He's...Sleeping, so if you have to tell him anything, you'll have to wait." I said in what I hoped was a confident voice, I hated speaking to more than one person, especially to two people me and jack had played more than one out of line prank on in the last ten years.

"Vhy not just wake him up?" North asked as he inspected the paintings on the walls, turning slightly too also inspect the somewhat freaking out teenage spirit that was on the other side of the room.

"Are you alright?" He asked when he saw my white knuckles held closely by my sides. Bunny grinned at this, seeing it as the perfect chance for payback and walked closer towards me, somehow subconsciously knowing how much more nervous it made me feel.

"Yeah, you seem kinda, nervous." I instantly attempted to relax my tightened muscles as I answered, trying my best to prove him wrong.

"I'm fine and no I'm not going to wake him up, he hasn't slept in ages, despite me doing my best to nag him into it." The bird like spirit nodded once in understanding before shaking her head, realizing that I didn't really know who she was.

"I'm sorry but I don't think we have met, I'm the Tooth Fairy." She smiled happily as I smiled back, my one mistake in this situation being that I smiled in the way that gave her perfect sight of my teeth. What happened next was a bit of a blur as one moment I was smiling at her, the next she was picking her fingers through my teeth, my mouth opened wider than comfortably allowed.

"Wha-"

"Wow your teeth are really sparkling." She mumbled to herself, unknowingly cutting me off as I turned to the nearby Bunny and North for help. Bunny just grinned and held up his hands, giving the indication that he was happy to see me suffer while North just sighed.

"Tooth, no touching the teeth of strangers." He said simply as the spirit eventually let go of my apparently very interesting jaw. I stepped a little bit back from the spirit, this whole situation really starting to slip from my control as I thought briefly again on waking Sandy, again my resolve hardened on that area, deciding that whatever they wanted to tell Sandy, They could just as easily tell me.

"Why are you here?" I asked attentively as the group once again focused on me and I was sure my fingers suddenly felt as though they could fall off.

"Well this is the annual Guardians meeting and it was Sandy's turn to hold it, but if he's sleeping then I guess we could have the meeting tomorrow..." Then North and the rest of the Guardians started to make their way towards the door, none of them even really looking at me as they started to leave, they were interrupted however, by a familiar spirit descending down the stairs.

Sandy was standing at the foot of the stairs, rubbing his eyes and trying his best to smooth out his bed ridden hair when he saw the rest of the guardians, as if he suddenly remembered exactly what was supposed to happen today.

"Ah Sandy there you are mate, now can we get this meeting going, I mean it's nearly night and you know how the burrow gets without me." Bunny said, again walking right past me to clap the still half asleep guardian on the back, waking him fully. North also greeted his friend, leaving me and tooth on our own.

"Okay, since Sandy isn't gonna sleep, I might as well. Goodnight everybody who isn't listening." I mumbled with a sudden exhausted attitude, leaving the strange group who of course hadn't listened to me as I went up to my room, the only person even vaguely aware that I had even left was Tooth, who frowned as I left but still went to greet the friend that her duties had denied her from seeing.

Tossing and turning all night was apparently not the as graciously entertaining as I had been lead to believe, so it was easy to say that the chances with me sleeping so far had been completely nil as I could just hear the rather loud and inconsiderate conversation that was taking place down stairs, of course it only really caught my interest in whatever was going on when the noise was suddenly lowered, there was no laughter from North, no occasional loud jibes from the bunny, nothing.

Quietly I slipped out of my bed and opened my door a crack, not wanting to open it fully since the door creaked when it was opened completely. I kneeled close to the door and listened, the suddenly silent conversation sadly not as quiet as I had recently thought, their words floating through the stairwell and into my keen ears.

"Sandy, why exactly is she here? I mean she hangs out with that annoying frosty brat and ruins our plans for our holidays." Bunny said scathingly as I pulled back a little bit, shocked that he would say that, only to be continued to be shocked as the conversation wasn't stopped.

"Bunny, I'm sure she's not that bad-" Tooth, bless her, tried to defend me, only to be cut off by the ever unknowingly insulting rabbit, the others most likely listening with at least the slightest feeling of awkwardness.

"Yeah right, the kid's a menace, why she's here is more confusing to me than the thought that Manny chose her as a spirit along with that brat-" Not wanting to hear anymore I quickly stood and slammed my door shut, not noticing that the group downstairs would have heard that until it was too late.

I froze eyes wide as I was stuck looking at the now shut door of my room, suddenly unsure of what to do next, I certainly didn't want to talk to that group, getting the feeling that if I did, I would most likely end up hitting the eater bunny right in the face. Not for insulting me, but for calling Jack a brat.

I slowly began to back away from the door and in one quick move; I grabbed my pot from the bedside table and practically jumped out of the window and used my path to get off the island as quick as possible. And just in time to as just as I had left the window, Sandy opened the door.

* * *

I had been running for god knows how long and I was tired beyond belief, but right now, I just wanted to get away from them, away where for at least a few seconds, they wouldn't find me.

My path eventually led me into forest, giving me a chance to hide myself from anything that might have been following me from the island. I soon dropped off my path onto the forest floor, continuing to walk as I wiped the moisture from my eyes.

Eventually though I had to rest and did so in a nearby cave not that far from a cliff edge, making sure that the entry was covered with branches so that if anyone found me, I would hear them coming.

I settled on one for the many rocks, biting my lip to stop me from crying, determined not to be upset over the stupid words of a magical walking rodent. During my attempts to hold in the tears I had curled up against the rock, my once peaceful sleeping position truing into one of me hugging myself.

My need to hit that Bunny was still going strong. I wasn't angry at him for insulting me, not that it made me feel any better, but for saying things against Jack. He didn't even know him like I did, He didn't care for that poor kid like I did, and he had no opinion on Jack that I would not defend 100%.

Ultimately, my held in tears and anger passed and I was now doing my best not to fall into sleep, knowing that if I did, Sandy would find me. However my eyelids were starting to grow heavy despite my resistance and before I could help it, I was out like a light.

* * *

**Okay Please review and constructive criticism welcome more than ever! Have a nice day/night folks!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys! **

**Okay there's this new story about another spirit like mine and I'd just like to ask you guys to leave it be, the story is completely different from mine and I don't want to be responsible for someone bullying anyone else. P.s No I am not going to tell you the name of the story or the author.**

**P.P.s: yay! chap 10 is here!**

**Anyway, I own nothing but Clover and please review; I always like to hear what you guys think.**

* * *

Sandy was pretty sure that he had a heart attack.

He stood in her bedroom, expecting to see a rather upset spirit, or at least Clover trying to get past him in order to beat the living chocolate out of the rather insulting bunny. But instead, she was gone.

It was strange, when you walk into someone's room when they're gone, as if the light they brought into their living space disappeared as soon as they left. Clover wasn't any different, every flower, book and practically every sand particle that made up the room just seemed gray without her.

The sand spirit was now sitting as his table, his friends watching him awkwardly as he tried to label exactly what he was feeling at the moment. Anger towards bunny, sure and worry for the now lone Clover wondering across the world, yep completely there. But there was something else...

"Sandy..." The Guardian looked over at the Tooth Fairy, wondering exactly what look he must have had on his face while she spoke, her own expression one of complete worry, which was immediately shared with the other spirit as she spoke.

"My fairies have reported that there have been recent earthquakes across America and the last they saw of Clover she was..."

Sandy didn't say anything in response; he just sat there, this new feeling disappearing as worry and an immediate need for action taking the wheel as he turned to North.

_I need to find her, can you help me?_

North nodded once and they both got up to leave, Tooth following them as they walked towards the door. Bunny, who since having heard that Clover had heard everything he had said had remained wisely silent, quickly ran towards the leaving group, determined to say something, anything that could help him feel better for what he did.

"Sandy wait, I'm sorry, I didn't know she was listening and even then, I shouldn't have said that, please forgive me." Sandy said nothing, not bothering to turn around as he knew that Bunny could perfectly well see the figures above his head.

_It's not me you need to apologize to._

With that the group was gone leaving a suddenly determined Bunny to set himself strait in Sandy's and Clover's eyes. He quickly tapped his foot on the ground twice and threw himself down the new hole.

* * *

I slept for what must have been a while since when I opened my eyes; the world in front of me was covered in darkness. I groaned pitifully for a few seconds as I began to move my limbs, each muscle screaming out in equal pain due to my fortunate idea of falling asleep on top of a rock.

As I sat up I briefly remembered the events of yesterday and groaned, knowing that Sandy or worse yet, the Bunny were seriously going to really shred me a new one for running of like that, though to be fair if it is the Bunny that does it I'll have a few choice words and punches to throw at him while he does so.

Anyway, as soon as I was able to move around without wincing, I began to move myself towards the entrance of the cave, figuring that it was time for me to return back to Sandy's as the Guardians, and hopefully Sandy himself, would not be there, giving me the perfect opportunity to fall asleep again on an actual comfortable surface.

However as I searched through the dark for the familiar feeling of the branches I had placed at the entrance I instead only felt more rocks, and the occasional splinter of wood and shredded leaf. Feeling more frightened I continued on my completely blind search for the exit out of what was once a perfectly sized cave that had somehow over the last few seconds, become my hypothetical tomb.

I continued to scramble around on the floor when I heard a familiar sound, not quite sure if it was just me I quickly stopped my own oxygen intake for a moment, listening intently through the dark and my own terrified heartbeat. I nearly felt my very soul jump out of me when I heard the noise again, my fear only escalating as I was able to label it.

Breathing. Someone else was here, but where?

I stood up from my crouched place on the floor, still listening intently as I quickly pretended that I was still searching for the exit, my heart beating louder and louder in my ears, yet somehow the breathing of the other was still capable of being heard.

Bitter and heated tears of fright managed to squeeze their way out of my eyes as I was still holding my breath, only letting go every once in a while as the need to supply myself with oxygen became apparent, I was too frightened to make even the smallest of noise, as if even the slightest action would entice the other person to attack.

My pretend act of continuing to look for a way out was interrupted when I felt the familiar feeling of air across the back of my neck, the hairs that collected their collectively standing on end as I turned around, not quite sure how it would help me, but convinced not to let this person, whoever it was, out of my not-really-helpful-but-still-good-for-metaphor's sight. It was at this point I decided it best to stop pretending that I hadn't noticed them and spoke out into the black, not really caring exactly how high pitched or frightened I may have sounded at that moment.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I whispered softly, as if the very sound of my voice would cause the stranger to snap. But instead of an attack or any kind of verbal answer in the form of words, all I heard was a laugh, it was short and unimaginative, but yet it still held the right amount of volume that it bounced of the cave walls and echoed for quite a while longer, giving me the impression that this cave was not as small as I first thought, but still did nothing for my sudden claustrophobia.

"Where are you?" I whispered again, my ears wincing at the sudden sound, having gotten use to the impending silence once again. And again for my efforts I received no answer other than a short curt laugh; this laugh however, was different. It wasn't quite filled with the same amount of sadistic humour like the last one, this one had a touch of something else, I couldn't quite name what it was but it certainly did effect me enough to send me back a couple of paces, right into a solid object that I was sure wasn't there a few moments ago. The solid object that was currently holding me upright and supporting me from falling on the floor and crying like a frightened child, laughed. I screamed and backed away from it, a sudden hand on my shoulder from behind me freezing me in place.

"Stop it, leave me alone!" I cried, by this point truly frightened beyond belief as the hand let go of my shoulder and practically disappeared altogether, along with the breathing, the laughter, everything.

And I was left alone, again.

* * *

Once again I wasn't sure how much time had passed since the strange person had ultimately left my senses, leaving me to sit on the rock I had be sleeping on and think on a way out.

The entrance before was obviously blocked by some sort of earthquake or erosion that had taken place while I slept. While I congratulated myself on even the possibility of sleeping through such a phenomenon, I was also kind of angry since you know, impeding death of lack of oxygen and starvation, you know the usual.

It was during my little pondering that I suddenly felt the ground start to feel different, as if it were sinking rather slowly, freaking out I slowly stood up and went to walk over to the other side of the cave, but by that point it was too late and the floor collapsed from under me, sending me tumbling down a vertical tunnel for what must have felt like forever, with every tumble and scratch feeling at least twenty times as worse as it might have done usually.

Eventually though the rough n tumble ride of possible death had to end at some point and it did so. The tunnel entered into another one, but first you'd have to crash through the mess of roots that I was currently tumbling towards at a rather fast speed.

I landed on them, my weight apparently not just enough to immediately, but enough to start loosening them from their place, I tried not to move as I waited for the rest of my fall, my head facing directly upwards, giving me a good view of exactly how far I had fallen.

Maybe I was hallucinating thanks to the recent hundred blows to the head I had received due to my recent fall, but at the very opening of the tunnel I had just fallen through, there was a sort of, silhouette in the darkness, the unmistakable fear inducing white of their eyes and teeth in the dark leaving only one conclusion on who it could be, on who it was that was with me in the darkness of that cave, that could have attacked me at any point yet for some reason, decided to laugh.

"Pitch." I whispered, or at least tried to as it instead came out as some form of strangled gasp instead, my breath now lost on me, but not because of the recent beating my lungs had taken and unfortunately as the roots started to give under my weight, would continue to receive.

Finally the roots gave away and I continued to fall, the silhouette having disappeared by this point as I crashed through the dirt and roots. I was lucky enough not to reach the ground a second later than I did as one of the longest, now untangled roots managed to re-tangle itself around my neck, causing me to suddenly stop in my descent just as my back first felt the floor of the new tunnel, I immediately struggled onto my knees as I attempted to somehow free my neck from the slowly tightening root.

"Hello?" I turn quickly to the sound of the voice, attempting to scream out for help only to be silenced by the twisted root. So I sat there for a few frightened seconds, one half of me praying that whoever the voice was would come this way and find me, the other half praying even harder that I wouldn't be strangled to death by the time they did.

However things started growing darker for me as I fell back onto the ground, black spots appeared in my vision with the root had practically started strangling the consciousness out of me, my last thoughts hoping to god that whoever this was, wasn't Pitch again.

Footsteps began to echo closer to my ears as a shadow from around the corner of the tunnel began to form...

* * *

Sandy was currently flying through the skies on North's sleigh, not looking anywhere but at the ground below, as if Clover would magically fly out in front of him and apologize for leaving, again.

The Sand Guardian wasn't sure why, but he really hated seeing her leaving in the mornings with that strange frost spirit, maybe it might have been because of what Pitch did all those years ago, maybe not. But he knew that he couldn't stand the thought of his friend being out on her own, anything could happen.

"Sandy, we'll find her." Tooth said seriously, her hand squeezing his shoulder, Sandy didn't say anything but nodded, not looking back for even a moment. The golden spirit was pretty sure that he use to want nothing more than for her to pay attention to him like she was now, yet for some reason, he no longer cared. He just wanted to find Clover.

"She's right Sandy, Clover cannot have gone far." North didn't look back as he spoke either, more than determined to concentrate on flying his sleigh so Sandy could find his friend. Sandy nodded again in response not looking back from the ground below as something shined up in the light.

_There! Go down there!_ The figures on the top of his head moved quickly to compensate for shouting, which Tooth was already doing as North quickly flew the sleigh down to the shining light, Sandy being the first to go and see what it was, hoping and praying that it would be Clover, or at least something of hers.

The light lead the frantic spirit to a collapsed cave near a cliff that lead straight to the ocean. Sandy looked over at the source of the light, his heart both plummeting in fear and rising in hope as he picked up the only object that had ever meant the most to Clover, the only thing that he had always seen her with that she would never leave behind.

Her pot.

Tooth and North crashed through the trees, seeing the pot and the rather confused Sandy, they immediately turned to the collapsed cave, the only real possibility being that she was in there, or at least ...she was.

_We need to go down there, she could be hurt. _Tooth nodded in agreement with the Sand guardian as she and North quickly started pulling the fallen rocks out of the way of the entrance, worry for this strange girl that both of them didn't know somehow seeping into their system as they helped their friend.

Eventually the rest of the rocks fell apart on their own, revealing a sadly empty cave with and a rather large hole leading further down. Sandy floated in and looked through the darkness, his golden skin fighting through the dark, revealing its secrets.

There seemed to be nothing around, But Sandy was never one to leave something be, and inspected every rock and root that existed there before finally looking down the tunnel, his heart leaping through his chest as he saw what was waiting down the bottom. He floated down to the bottom and picked the small scrap of green cloth of on the ground, knowing immediately that it was hers.

"Sandy? What did you find? Erm Sandy...North can't fit down the hole so you're going to have to come up here...and it's really dark." Tooth's voice echoed down the tunnel and was immediately answered by Sandy quickly floating up to them, the figures on his head spanning about a mile a second but luckily were somehow slow enough for them to understand.

_Thank you for your help but I need to find her and I know she's down here somewhere, I'll see you later. _With that he was gone; having completely threw himself down the hole. Tooth watched him leave and smiled gesturing for North to follow her as they went outside.

"I think he's got this North." She said simply as North tried to convince the fairy spirit that they should help Sandy find his friend. They both walked back to the sleigh, somehow knowing that Sandy would find his friend.

* * *

Sandy flew quickly through the tunnel, noticing only for a moment how easily he remembered them before continuing on, not at all really shocked when he ended up in the Easter Bunny's burrow. He continued on his little speeding quest to find Cover as he passed many of the groups of eggs and large stones, being very careful to dodge the large boulders at the right time.

Eventually he came across the leader of the burrow, who was standing over another unconscious spirit. Immediately recognising an uncurious Clover when he saw one he immediately floated into the room, Bunny having noticed Sandy a long time before hand spoke, not taking his eyes of the sleeping girl.

"I found her unconscious and nearly strangled to death by a root, apparently she fell all the way down a nearby tunnel that lead to my burrow, she's fine and breathing now with a few bumps and scratches, but when I found her she wouldn't stop talking in her sleep bout some shadowy guy coming to get her."

Sandy nodded once and frowned at the deep red mark on her neck that only seemed to get bigger with time. He moved forwards, his hand briefly touching her forehead before pulling back, her temperature soaring high to a fever.

The Sand spirit didn't look back at Bunny as he quickly picked up the sleeping Clover bridal style, the very image of the sand guardian holding Clover in such a way would have most assuredly caused the young teen to break into hysterics but this moment he seemed far too serious in the first place that she probably wouldn't have bothered.

"Please when she wakes up, can you tell her I'm sorry?" Bunny asked seriously, unable to take the thought that Clover could have gotten hurt because of his words, Sandy however shocked him by shaking his head, the figures above his head confirming what the other guardian needed to do.

_I already told you that you'd have to apologize to her, come to my house later when she's awake and you can apologize then, oh and Bunny. _The Guardian of Hope waited for what the serious faced Sandy had to say, but was again surprised when he smiled warmly.

_Thank you for helping her._

With that Sandy carried the unconscious Clover out of the Burrow and through the tunnels, all the way back to the cave entrance, the light of the setting sun flashing on Clover's face, not waking her, but sadly supplying enough light for the small man to see the damage the fall of the tunnel must have done to her. He gently swiped some of the long red hair out of her face and frowned, feeling as though he had let her down again.

He walked her back to the sleigh and without a word to his friends, gently laid her down in the back, content just to watch her sleep while North flew them home where she could rest.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Clover**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Clover didn't wake up again until late the next day, the red mark around her neck having faded a little, but was still very noticeable. Sandy did worry that the mark might have been infected and did check to make sure, but nothing really came up.

So all the guardian could do was wait for Clover to wake up herself. The red haired spirit was left to sleep in her bed, Sandy not really wanting to leave her behind but he did have work to do, so he left Bunny to watch her while he delivered his dreams across the world for the children.

Naturally Bunny was not really up for it.

"Sandy you said I had to come over for the day, not that I had to watch the kid."

_Exactly, now I have to go, make sure Clover doesn't run away again_ The other guardian twitched notably at his words and sent a light hearted, but still irritated glare at the Sandman.

"You're enjoying this aren't ya?"

_Maybe..._

And then he was gone, leaving the poor bunny to wait for the probably really rabbit-hating Clover to waken from her sleep. The guardian decided it best to take a walk before she came to, not wanting to be there when she woke up.

* * *

This had to be one of the strangest mornings I have gone through yet. Yeah it could really contend with the time I fell asleep while rainbowing my way across the sky (How I did it I still have to figure out.) My head felt like it had been bashed against a wall at least a hundred times, which as far as I remembered I most likely did.

There was a little surprise to see that Sandy wasn't there, but I knew he had a job to do and wasn't going to wait on me all day. Anyway I walked through the house and into the bathroom, taking a moment to gasp at my reflection, my face looking a lot more beaten up than it felt, a deep red scar marking my neck, more scars practically covering all my arms and legs.

I briefly touched the scar on my neck but pulled back, hissing in pain. A few moments passed as I checked to see if I was bleeding from anywhere before shrugging and washing up the best that I could, trying not to get any water on the scars that already felt as though I had seared them with acid.

The sun didn't seem that far up in the sky so I decided to look around outside, hoping that Jack would be there to go on some kind of adventure that wouldn't include him asking after the injuries that were really starting to sting around my legs.

Seeing my pot on the bedside table I quickly grabbed it, taking a moment to hug it (wonder if I'm too attached to it...) before walking outside, ready to enjoy what should be a rather uncomfortable day. I walked around on the beach for a bit before finally deciding that Jack wasn't going to show up so I might as well take a stroll through the sand forest.

The sand forest had always interested me, even after all these years. Why? Because it was always changing, there was always a new type of flower that sandy had created or a new species of animal that I'm pretty sure could never exist outside the island.

But as I strolled through the forest I started to hear strange noise. At first I just categorized it as merely another new type of animal that I would eventually run into someday.

Then I heard the breathing.

I instantly froze in my tracks, none of the sand animals could breath, they had no real lungs to do so. So what was that?

Moving seemed like an impossibility for the next few seconds, a strange sense of déjà vu flooding through my brain as I tried to listen out for how close the breathing was, my pot at the ready to swing at the mysterious perpetrator.

Of course it wasn't until a little too late that I realized that the other was standing right behind me and my memories of yesterday kicked in.

The cave, the laughter, the figure in the shadows.

_Pitch..._

"Stay away from me!" Screaming I quickly turned, slamming the figure full force in the face with my pot, but for some reason not knocking them down as they continued to stand there, not moving at all as I realized my mistake.

I had hit the Easter Bunny.

* * *

**What the two of them are currently thinking:**

**Clover:**

_Oh god I hit him in the face, what am I supposed to do now? I can't tell him I thought he was Pitch, he'll think I'm crazy. What do I do? What should I say? Oh god, oh god, OH GOD!_

**Bunny:**

'_Stay away from me?' Does that mean she hates me now?_

**Now back to your scheduled programming:**

Well we just stood there for felt like forever until finally Bunny turned to leave.

"No wait, I'm-" he cut me off.

"No it's fine, I'll just go." Ah guilt, haven't felt that in a while.

"Wait, please I didn't mean it." I run after him as he starts to exit the forest, quickly standing in front of him, desperate for not to think that I didn't hate him, but sadly I never really got the chance to say so at the time as he cut me off again, which really wasn't helping in the whole 'Don't hate him even though he insulted Jack thing.'

"I deserve it, I shouldn't have said those things and-" I cut him off before thinking, great idea.

"Then why did you?" I cringed slightly after my words, instantly regretting them. Dammit, I'm really not helping in my own cause right now. Bunny looked really hurt then, his long ears were down by his head and everything, really I might have called it cute if I weren't busy being angry at myself at that moment.

"Ah mate I didn't know what I was doing, I just, have a problem controlling what I say and... Ah just hit me again if you're angry!" Now maybe it's just me being new at this kind of situation, but I think Bunny was trying to apologize, either that or he really is into people hitting him.

"I'm sorry," He looked pretty surprised at that was about to say something when I cut him off, hah taste of your own medicine!

"I only hit you over the head because I thought you were Pitch." Two for two another surprised look, though this one seemed a little more directed towards anger than usual. His ears immediately picked up, ready for danger as he reached for looked like a boomerang from his belt.

"Pitch? Where?" I sighed, my hand stopping him from pulling out his choice of weapon, my voice containing maybe a lot more humor than this situation than needed.

"He's not here, don't worry." I said, trying to bite back a chuckle, obviously this was not the best time for laughing. The taller spirit only sniffed, letting go of his weapons before relaxing. It was around this time that our conversation dried out into an awkward silence, maybe it was because bunny had already apologized or it might have something to do with the both of us knowing next to nothing about the other.

So we just stood in the forest, both of us looking in a different direction, to embarrassed for some reason to look each other in the eye. Eventually though, being a hater of awkward silence myself, I spoke up, the bunny nearly jumping in fright from the disturbance.

"Hey, where's Sandy?" I asked curiously as the guardian scratched the back of his head and sat on the ground, not really needing to gesture for me to join him.

"He went to the other part of the world to deliver dreams, leaving me here to look after ya." He sounded a little annoyed as he spoke, a feeling that I could share with him as I felt a little abandoned by the golden guardian. We always went on dream runs together, heck I couldn't even remember the last time he went on his own.

**Oh yes you can...**

I shake my head a little before turning to bunny, hoping to receive any indication that he had also heard the voice, only to be disappointed as he kept talking about his own problems. I decided to ignore it for now and listen to the helpful distraction.

"I mean it's not as if I don't want to be here, it's just that Easter's coming soon and I have to prepare." Realization slapped me with a decent amount of excitement. Any kind of holiday always got me excited, not really counting exactly which spirit's holiday it was. I remembered the beautiful eggs I had seen in the guardian's warren and grinned, hoping that this year I could convince Sandy into an egg hunt on the island again, the last hunt was the best I had ever been on.

Actually, how long ago was that? I counted back the time in my head before frowning; I was never really good at keeping time. Might actually be a good explanation behind me not even remembering what my age was, even less what day it was, speaking of which...

"Hey what year is it?" I asked the large rabbit sitting next to me, who at first raised an eyebrow in response before answering.

"1768." He said simply as I nodded, before counting on my fingers. A few minutes passed before I groaned unhappily and stood up, unhappy with the result I had received.

"What's wrong?" He asked before standing up after me while I glared daggers at the sand underneath my feet.

"I'm 368." I grumbled as the guardian laughed, I turned and glared at him while he tried to maintain his balance against a sand tree.

"What's so funny?" I growled, feeling more than a little insulted. Obviously this spirit had no idea how to really talk to a woman, the first rule (even in my time) being not to laugh at their age. He eventually got his humor in check and straightened himself, the crooked smile on his face a clear indication to me that he was just holding it in.

"Nothing," He grinned while I sighed in frustration and turned back to the house, a still giggling spirit following after me. I stood on the porch and looked back at him, my serious face causing him to break down again, my angry facade twitched for a second as I smirked, a small giggle slipping out of me as I spoke.

"It's not that funny, why are you laughing?"

* * *

And that's how Sandy found us a few hours later, me leaning against the front door while I laughed, the rabbit trying to pick himself off the floor. The look he gave us, he must have thought we were insane. I tried to explain why we were laughing but every time I did I just start laughing again, Bunny left a short while afterwards, taking a moment to actually tell me his full name, after Sandy pointed out that I didn't actually know it.

"E. Aster Bunnymund." He said briefly as I smiled, taking his hand (paw?) and shaking it.

"Clover L. Eprachuan." Sandy grinned, hoping that the strange disconnection between us was now resolved.

...Sandy has way to much hope in this guy.

* * *

A few days passed and suddenly it was the day before Easter. I hadn't really seen Aster after that day, Jack either, which really got me to worrying as I hadn't really seen him in a month, an occurrence that never really happens. While the month passed I would stand out on the beach in the mornings, hoping and waiting for him to arrive and assure me that nothing had happened to him, only to be disappointed every time.

Sandy was also starting to worry, but about me. I laughed away his concern whenever he brought it up, saying that I was fine, it was Jack that needed help. The sand spirit never really understood the friendship we had but decided not to question it, and would even help me look for him when I went with him on the dream runs when he was finished.

The voice that had appeared those few days ago had sadly not disappeared; in fact it had grown in reappearance over the month, as if it were feeding off my fear of Jack being missing.

**He left you behind, he doesn't care, he's grown bored of you and left. **You name it, the voice had said it. I hadn't brought it up with Sandy so far as I didn't want to add to his already rather over protective attitude towards me. I would like to say that I didn't believe the voice, that I had more faith in Jack than that. But then again, I hadn't seen Jack in so long and the last I saw him we didn't really go on any adventures like we use to.

Was the voice right? Had Jack really gotten bored of me and found someone else to be his friend?

These thoughts burrowed themselves into my thoughts as I flew through a particular town that night; Sandy was still miles above me, delivering his dreams like he did every night. All the towns' people by this point had gone to sleep and there was barley even a soul out. Not that I could blame them, the temperature was really starting to drop.

I shivered as I hugged myself, rubbing my arms in an attempt to keep in some warmth, the cold only reminding me even more of how much I missed my frosty friend. Deciding that since there wasn't really anyone around to give any luck to, I went back up into the sky were Sandy was waiting.

But as soon as I reached the dream cloud were my friend sat the temperature really dropped to the extreme, even Sandy was shivering, and the cold barley ever affected him. I on the other hand, was practically frozen stiff, the tips of my fingers and lips turning a shade of purple.

_I think it's time to leave. _

"Y-you t-think-k?" I whispered, my teeth chattering a thousand times per minute, only stopping every once in a while as I had accidentally bit my tongue. The golden spirit gave me a worried look before pulling me into his embrace, manipulating some of the warm sand into a blanket for me, his own shivering form left uncovered. I held him closer as I began feel better, not wanting him to freeze while he helped me.

We stayed there for a few minutes longer before I saw something in the town below, a small shine of light blue amongst the white storm that was quickly covering it. Fear hit me faster than lightening as I quickly stood up, Sandman quickly trying to pull me back into the warmth of the sand but I shook my head.

"I-I saw s-something d-down there, I t-think it might have been J-jack." I said through my chattering teeth while I prepared to go down there and check things out, hoping that he wasn't really there and was safe.

Sandy quickly took my hand, shaking his head as he tried to pull me back down.

_Don't go down there, you're already freezing up here, if you go down there you could get hurt._

"I'll b-be fine, but I-I have to m-make sure t-that Jack is okay." I walked closer to the edge, my decision only confirmed as I saw the flash of blue light again. Sandy still hadn't let go of my hand, I smiled reassuringly at him as I slowly moved my hand from his grip, taking another moment to make sure that he wasn't trying to hold me back anymore as I then stood up and ran off the cloud, letting myself fall for a good few minutes before creating a rainbow path, sliding my way quickly down to the ground below, trying to go with the wind as I went, not really wanting to take my chances going against it.

Eventually after a good few scares of the wind changing and trying, for some reason, to knock me off my path, I reached the ground. No matter how much I tried to readjust my eyes, the world in front of me completely smothered in white snow. I ran quickly and blindly through the storm, knowing better than to stay still in one place.

**You're going to die out here if you don't leave now.**

_Really? What makes you say that oh so mysterious voice that I might just be considering on telling Sandy about? _

_Honestly I thought I was going to be completely toasty and everything. Oh wait, no I didn't, you know why? CAUSE I'M IN A BLOODY SNOW STORM LOOKING FOR A FROST SPIRIT, yeah maybe this just might not work out but I think I'd prefer dying slowly in the snow than arguing with a non existing entity. _

And it's gone again, typical. As soon as it feels that it was losing an argument, it would just leave.

I had yet to feel the cold, as if my fear and adrenaline was keeping me from freezing in my tracks. Unfortunately my adrenaline was really doing terribly for my eyes as I ran into more than one wall or pole on my venture to find Jack. Which of course was not really a problem in comparison to me trying to keep my dress from flying all over the place, which would have caused me to blush if there wasn't already a decent blood supply there to stop my face from freezing up.

"Jack!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, my throat feeling as though it was being ripped from the inside out as I did so. However, the cold was starting to get to me as my legs were nearly frozen stiff.

I wasn't sure after a while exactly how long I had been running, or rather, walking as my legs were turning numb. But eventually, I did manage to find someone; unfortunately it was not really the person I was looking for.

"Aster?" I whispered meekly as my throat was burning like acid. There was no mistake; it had to be the bunny. I mean I didn't really know anyone else with a silhouette of a full grown rabbit.

"Clover? What are you doin' here?" He quickly hopped over to me, my appearance apparently very frightening to him as he looked incredibly shocked. I guess it might have something to do with the bruises from walking into those walls and poles, that only appeared to be worse thanks to the cold, the blood that had turned purple making the bruises seem that much bigger.

"Are ya alrigh'?" I nodded meekly as he led me over to a small alleyway in between two buildings while we waited for the storm to blow over. Aster tried his best to keep me warm while he spoke, his words nearly flying past in the wind.

"W-what?" I whispered hoarsely, trying to listen through the roaring wind as he spoke again.

"I said where's Sandy?" Oh great, of course Aster isn't affected by the cold. Because that would be fair.

"He's up in the air, s-safe." I said, luckily not having repeat myself as Aster heard me with his long ears. We stayed in that alleyway for hours, possibly a whole day, I wasn't really sure. Aster left me alone for a few minutes to, as he stated:

"Check on the little ankle biter's." He came back after a few minutes, telling me that they were safe. After that nothing else really happened until hours later when the storm finally died down. I waited for a few more seconds, the wind was clam but the snow still remained, before I went out, Aster following me not that long afterwards.

We walked through the snow for a few minutes before I finally caught sight of a familiar form through the white. I ran towards it, my breath caught in my throat and the scars on my legs stinging from the cold as I ran.

"Jack?" I walked towards the frosted teen, he was lying on the frosted ground, his cane held tightly in his hands, his face tightened in fear. I crouched next to him, shaking the boy's shoulders for a few seconds as he began to stir.

"Jack are you okay?" I whispered as he opened his blue eyes and stared up at me, confusion flitting through them as he quickly stood up, brushing dirt that wasn't really there off his clothes.

"Jack?" I repeated softly, my hand clasping his shoulder as he looked at me again, his face just made of unsure emotions.

"Where am I?" Jack asked curiously, looking all around him before back to me, his eyes finally taking in my full appearance, and frowned. I sighed, he must have fallen asleep and caused the storm by accident, there was really no other answer I could think of. I caught his worried look and massaged my temples, really not in the mood for the third guy today to be worried about me, I mean it is flattering but it gets annoying after a while.

"Just don't ask, it's a really, long story." I smiled at him, trying my best to reassure him that I was fine, but he was having none of it.

"Don't ask? You're covered in bruises and nearly the same temperature as me, there's seems to be allot to worry about." He gestured at my full form as he spoke, his eyes mainly focusing on the deep red mark on my neck. I was about to half heartedly assure him again when I was interrupted.

"Yeah and we all know the cause behind most of it, now don't we." Aster appeared from out of the trees and glared completely at the teen in front of him, his expression clearly stating that he was not in the mood for the frosted spirit's usual banter, but then again, neither was Jack.

"What do you mean?" He sounded so confused, so lost. That seemed to completely assure me that there was no way he would do this intentionally, it had to have been an accident. But apparently, the same revelation had not been realized by Aster, who was still glaring intently at him. I walked a little closer to the situation, hoping that this wasn't going where I thought.

"You caused this mess ya little brat, and now Easter's ruined, because of you." He seethed while I took this opportunity to step in, making sure that I was standing directly in front of the small spirit.

"Aster it was an accident, Jack was asleep the whole time. He didn't mean to do this." I said firmly, the bunny just glaring at me before continuing, the younger spirit behind me only growing even more upset as he continued.

"So? It still happened because of him. I mean look at you Clover; you're covered in bruises and frozen stiff thanks to this little nuisance." He pointed past me at the boy, who looked rather heartbroken as I made the mistake of looking back at him, the new and old black bruises on my face being just that more apparent in the light that was finally shinning through the settling white snow, my skin now frozen pale and lips blue as his eyes.

Hidden tears swelled up in his eyes as my heart broke; I walked a little closer to him in order to comfort him. Only to be more upset when he backed away. Unfortunately it seemed that Bunnymund didn't want to stop there and just kept at it, his words only tearing the poor boy up even more.

"And you wonder why no one believes in ya, maybe if you didn't cause things like this, hurt people like Clover, you would be believed in." That shocked me the most, so much that it left me speechless for the longest time. How dare he, that was all I could think, how dare he say that.

I knew his story. Sandy had told me, I knew that he had always been believed in; he had never been unfortunate enough to have someone walk right through him. And yet he stands here and says these things, without a care in the world.

The thought of beating the living life out of him for saying such things seemed to irresistible at that moment, but Jack was thankfully taking up a good portion of my attention. He was just standing there against a tree, obviously leaning against it for support as frost quickly building around it, his shoulders notably shaking. I walked closer to him, trying to get him to look at me, but he pushed me away and walked past me, not wanting to look me in the eyes.

"Jack you didn't- it's not your fault, it was an accident!" I spoke calmly before finally yelling as the frosted boy shot up into the air, not wanting Aster and I to see the tears slipping past his eyes and down his face. I closed my eyes, trying to hold back some tears of guilt myself before turning around and glaring fiercely at the rabbit, I walked quickly back to him and pushed with as much force as my frozen, tired arms could muster. Which wasn't much, but it's the thought that counts.

"What is wrong with you?" I shouted, my voice bouncing off the empty streets and alleyways, Aster wincing at the decimal in which I had delivered it, but was still glaring at the retreating speck that was Jack Frost. Eventually he did glare back at me before walking off in an attempt to walk away from a fight. But I followed him, not ready to let this go.

"Me? What did I do wrong, Frostbite's the one who ruined Easter, created a hurricane and nearly killed us both, yet I'm getting shredded out for yelling at 'im like he deserved?" He calmly retorted, leaning back on a now frozen tree, his calm demeanor doing nothing for my growing rage.

What was with this guy? He says just about the same things about me yet apologizes afterwards, but when it comes to Jack suddenly he doesn't regret a damn thing? No, you know what? I won't allow any double standards with how I'm treated from my friends, and right now, with that annoying, contradicting rabbit leaning against that tree like he's in the right, I really wanted to bap him one, friend of Sandy's or not it no longer mattered. He was no friend of mine, and I was really starting to hate his attitude.

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"I screamed as I clenched my fists, briefly cursing myself for leaving my pot at home for the first time, which had been an attempt to keep it safe and to not lose it in the night. He turned his head away from me and I went to strike.

I screamed out in anger as I felt the familiar feeling of sand wrapping around my arms, keeping me from hitting the self-centered rabbit and only causing me to be even more infuriated as the sand wrapped around my hands, trying to loosen the fists.

"Sandy let go of me." I hissed, my sight focused completely on the spirit in front of me, who looked rather surprised that I was ready to attack him for what he said. I didn't have to look back at the sand spirit to know that he wasn't going to let me go, I struggled then, not ready to let it go or calm down.

The sand guardian moved in front of me, blocking me from any attempt I could make to get to the other guardian as it became clear was he was stating. In order to get to Aster, I'd have to go through him. At that moment I decided it best to swallow my anger and stepped back, but still the hurt remained. He was choosing Aster over me, he believed Aster over me.

I continued walking back, my hands (that were shaking in both cold and anger) were raised in mock surrender as I spoke.

"Fine, fine, be on his side. I'm going to find Jack, you know, the real victim." I hissed before walking off, the sand that bound my wrists having loosened when I stepped back and broke altogether as I shot up into the air, running quickly so the Sandman couldn't stop me.

* * *

**You're never going to find him, Aster was right, he'll never be accepted and as long as you're with him, neither will you.**

"Oh be quiet will you, I'm busy." I hissed to myself as the voice fell silent again, its new attempt to get at me not working out like it did last time. I knew better and I was not going to be fooled.

Was Aster said was wrong, plain and simple. Nobody, not even Jack with his sometimes annoying pranks deserved to hear that.

I soared through the sky on my rainbow path, taking every moment that I could to fly up higher than usual, where Sandy couldn't get to me. I wasn't going to be caught just yet, besides it wasn't as if sandy could tell me not to look for my friend. He wasn't my parent, or my boss. He was my friend that I lived with; therefore he should mind his own business when I want to beat the living life out of that bloody rabbit.

_Keep calm, forget about Aster and look for Jack, he needs your help and getting angry at Aster won't change anything._

**Oh I don't know about that, I think a good punch in the face is exactly what the rodent needs.**

_Oh sure mysterious voice that I really hope is an outside influence, I'll just take your advice, especially since you were defending Aster only a few seconds ago._

_Now if you don't mind I think I've found my rather upset friend, so could you kindly shove off?_

Ah silence, thou were missed.

Anyway, I did actually catch sight of my rather upset friend on the shores of Antarctica, sitting right on the edge of an iceberg and sniffing to himself, his staff lying a few feet away, giving me the sad impression that he had thrown it away from him. I landed near the wooden cane, not alerting my friend of my presence just yet so he wouldn't fly away.

I picked up the staff, feeling the knotted wood in my hands as I walked over to Jack, quietly sitting next to him as I placed the cane in between us. Nothing was said for the longest time, we just sat in silence and looked out at the iceberg infested waters beyond, the world taking a moment to pause and inspect the moment we had right now.

Sure it was cold, but not as cold as the storm had been, so I was okay, Jack on the other hand seemed right at home with this frozen wonderland, the icebergs beyond the one we were sitting on littered the ocean and gave a beautiful scene, the lowering sunlight bouncing off the ice, creating numerous colors for us to take in. In other words, it was a breath taking sight.

After a while I eventually looked away from the scene, reached over and hugged the younger spirit, he wasn't crying anymore, he was just sitting there in my embrace, not saying anything while I spoke, saying one thing that I hoped could make him feel better.

"It was an accident; you were sleeping." Again he didn't say anything in response; he just nodded and kept the silence. And for the first time, I didn't really mind the silence for once, I was content to just sit here until the sun set, knowing that when it did, I'd have to leave Jack on his own, an action I wasn't exactly thrilled to go through with, and face down another bout of disappointed Sandy.

Yippee.

* * *

**And there we go, the longest chapter of them all, oh and did anyone get the reference I made? No? Okay then I'll just crawl back into the corner...**

**Oh and please review, constructive criticism welcome!**


	12. Chapter 12

**I own nothing but Clover**

**Two for two but a lot shorter than the last one! Please enjoy!**

* * *

The sun set a lot sooner than I thought, in fact it set only a few minutes after I found Jack, and of course I was still not up to the thought of leaving him behind so I continued to stay with him until he fell asleep, which so far seemed like an amazing feat in itself as the moon was already half way through its journey and Jack had yet to fall into the happy thing we call rest.

"Jack if you aren't asleep in the next ten seconds I'm gonna-" I started but looked down to see that he was already nodding off, his staff curled up in his tight grip. I sighed and picked him up, a little surprised at first on how weightless he seemed before shrugging and blaming it on how much of a skinny pole the boy really was.

I quickly walked off the iceberg, my rainbow path taking over as I took the boy home with me, the darkness of the night doing nothing to stop me as I continued on my journey, the sand island I called my home not exactly that far away from the Antarctic, but there was still a rather long trek ahead of me regardless.

"Good thing you don't weigh much Jack or I might have considered dumping you in the ocean." I whispered jokingly to the sleeping boy, grinning as he just mumbled in his sleep, his peaceful expression was already enough to make me squee at the sheer adorableness of it all but still, I kept strong, not wanting to scare the poor boy by squeezing the lungs out of him.

Eventually though I did manage to make it back to the island without dropping him or scaring the life out of him, again. I intentionally flew over the house and landed in the forest, quickly placing Jack in the cave that I had found during my little ventures thorough the forest and laid him down the best I could, quickly grabbing a nearby rock and carved a message onto the cave wall for Jack to see when he woke up, just in case he might freak out.

_Dear Jack_

_Sorry for leaving you in a cave but I couldn't bring you in Sandy's house just yet._

_You can leave if you want but I really wanted to talk to you in the morning, I'll talk to Sandy for you to stay but if you don't want to then I understand._

_Don't be a stranger._

_Clover._

Sand caves were always easier to carve into than normal ones.

Anyway I wrote the note, made sure Jack was comfortable by getting him a nice large leaf as a blanket before going back to the house, ready for anything.

* * *

Remember how I said I was ready for anything? Well apparently that's not true.

I thought I was ready for anything, I was even ready to fight him, why I wasn't really sure but I was ready if it went there, Jack was my friend and I was going to defend him. I knew that the storm he caused was an accident, and no matter what defense Sandy thought of it wasn't going to change my mind, nor my friendship with the frost spirit.

And yes now that I had a cool head I could understand why Aster was angry, your going to be ticked when the holiday that you had been working on for most of the year was ruined. But still he didn't have to say what he did, and if he was in that house I still had to seriously considering the pros and cons behind giving him one in the face. With the largest con being that Sandy could kick me out, and I didn't want to lose him as a friend.

So it was with a head filled with nervous, guilty, understanding, yet infuriated emotions that I opened the front door of my oldest friend's house and walked inside.

The silence of the house was more nerve racking than the last time I had been unexpectedly gone, nothing moved, the sand that made the house didn't move like it usually did when I walked through it, as if the house itself was just as upset with me as Sandy probably was right now. But still I trudged on, not a shred of guilt inside of me as unlike last time, I knew I was in the right.

I walked up the stairs to my room, not really caring enough to look for Sandy as I was convinced that I shouldn't have to explain myself to him, I wasn't some unruly child and he certainly wasn't my parent. I jumped into my bed as my scars, my bruises, new and old, and the recent bloody freezing of my body that I had received over the day and night finally getting to me as I practically collapsed into sleep.

* * *

When I woke again it was late morning, the sun was already way up in the sky and Jack was probably already gone. Despite the reality that he was gone, I hoped that he wouldn't disappear of the earth like he did before. Leaving me with really nothing to do thanks to the really over protective Sandy and conflicting Aster.

The thought of leaving the island and finding my own home had passed my mind more than once as I was now 368. I thought of Jack and that even though he was younger than me, he had the freedom to go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. And I was not going to lie, I was jealous of that.

But at the same time I didn't want to just up and leave Sandy. He was my best friend and had quickly become one of the very few people, apart from Jack, that I held very dearly to my heart. It was that thought that always stopped me from leaving, from finding and living a life of my own.

I walked out of my room and down the stairs, not surprised to see Sandy at the table, his back was to me and made no attempt to speak with me as I fixed myself breakfast and sat at the table, watching the slightly annoyed spirit for a few minutes before finally coming to a decision.

Again it wasn't as if this idea had come out of the blue, like I had said before, I had been thinking about it for months. Probably years, again not so good at the whole time counting thing. I looked over at my friend, my oldest friend and wondered exactly how much I had bothered him, worried him over the years with my disappearing acts. The situation with Pitch, the fight I nearly got into with one of his oldest friends, the fact that I often ran off with someone a great deal younger than me all the time to play stupid childish pranks, the list goes on.

"Sandy..." There was another problem of mine; I could never really speak when it came to a decision that I had to make myself. The sand spirit looked me right in the eyes and suddenly I just had to finish it. I was not interested in fighting with him, I wanted this to stop. Ever since I had moved in to this house I had been nothing but trouble, just like Aster, despite the incredible ass that he was about it, had said.

I had to leave; otherwise I was just going to make him miserable, no matter how miserable it would make me.

"I...I've decided to move out."

* * *

Despite how much I didn't want to fight him, he was incredibly persistent and we did eventually end up fighting.

We screamed at each other ( Well when I say screamed, I was the one doing the screaming, he just had a really rather angry face and figures above his head that really weren't helping with the situation.) at the table for a good hour before I grew tired of it and went up to my room to get my belongings and leave, unfortunately I didn't count on him following me to my room and using his sand to stick me to the floor as I picked up my pot, the only non-sand object in the entire room.

I didn't really mean to freak out like I did, but then again I was slowly sinking into the floor. The first thing to get to mind was, escape. I turned back at Sandy, who was floating by my door frame, a rather unreadable expression on his face. It changed however when he saw me realistically freaking the hell out and released me from the sinking floor.

He floated forward a bit, but I didn't let it stop there and managed to push past him towards the door, hoping I could get away before anymore of the floor tried to get me. I was almost out to, my hand was just reaching the door knob when I felt a golden whip quickly wrap its way around my waist and pulled me roughly away from the door and onto the floor where the sand stuck me in place, keeping me from leaving, my pot landing a bit away from me.

My voice almost strained then, from all the yelling combined with the hoarse scream I uttered in shock as I landed on the ground. I struggled against the forced sand for a moment before finally looking up at the very upset Sandy above my head, my emotions having calmed down by that point.

"Let me go." Sandy slowly shook his head, the sand around me however, loosening around me just the tiniest bit.

_If I do you'll run off and leave._

"I won't, now let me go." The sand slowly but surely fully released its grip as I sat up quickly. Not into the mood for waiting as I quickly grabbed my pot, wanting to feel assured that if we were to get into a fight , I had some kind of weapon by my side.

I turned back, and instantly regretted doing so as I saw the heart broken expression on Sandy's face. The sand figures above his head showed someone getting thrown to the floor, sunken into also said floor, and a question mark.

"I'm fine Sandy, I've dealt with worse." I assured him and he nodded, but didn't look any less upset as the figures continued. The sand around us forming back into the hard wood floor it looked like before the rather one sided fight. He floated closer and took my hands in his smaller ones, his thumbs brushing carefully against my palms.

_Why do you want to leave?_

Now it was my turn to look upset as I frowned at the floor. I squeezed his small hands as I began to tell him, my reasons for leaving coming out all at once in a jumbled up ramble, but the main reason I wanted to leave managed to stay completely recognizable through the word vomit and Sandy managed to pick up on it.

He let go of one of my hands and lifted my head so we were staring eye to eye, he remained completely straight faced as the figures above his head moved about.

_You want to leave because you think you're a nuisance? That I would be better off without you around? Well... _

I nodded, waiting for the inevitable ending of that sentence, that Sandy would agree with me and send me on my way, despite how upset I might be I knew I had to leave, I'd been enough trouble for the poor man.

So I was surprised when he flew much closer to where I was standing, in fact a lot more closer than he ever had before. I backed away from him in confusion but I was unable to get away due to his soft, yet somehow controllable grip on my hand. I ended up backing into a wall, my cheeks turning crimson red as I could feel his breath on my face and eyes staring right into mine, our foreheads were just touching when Sandy moved forwards and...

...Tapped me lightly on the nose, the figures on his head continuing as he backed away again, his hand letting go of mine.

_...Well I think you're wrong, you've never been a nuisance to me. In fact I think life has gotten more exciting since you've moved in, wouldn't you say?_

I couldn't really move or speak; I was still stuck to that wall, blinking in confusion as my cheeks stayed the same flushed crimson.

Sandy smiled and , convinced that he had made his case, floated off to his study to work, leaving me to nearly collapse in the hallway, watching him leave for a few seconds before smiling, picking up my pot and placing back on the bedside table in my room.

"That sure was a cruel trick Sandy. Fine, I'll stay." I mumbled to myself, knowing full well that he could hear me, even if he was on the other side of the house. I felt the floor vibrate in happiness like it use to and smiled, deciding it best not to think about how good it felt when his face was that close to mine.

Definitely not.

...Right?

* * *

**Please review, constructive criticism always welcome, in fact it often does add a certain bit of confidence to a part of my brain that wants to update every so often...**

**You know...just saying...**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Nothing but my Oc's guys, otherwise there'd be a Sandy plushie.**

**Seriously, it sells itself!**

* * *

Sandy had been waiting for Clover for at least an hour and was starting to get worried.

True he knew Clover had her own job as a spirit to do, but she never really to this long, since she had said more than once that 'Luck is a quick fleeting motion, either that or I'm just lazy.' So either she had found someone in need, or she was having trouble.

The Sandman was starting to go over the pros and cons of going after her to see if she was alright, the biggest con being that she would think that he didn't trust her or that he felt like she was incapable of doing her own job, obviously that wasn't the case so now he just stuck sitting here and waiting.

Again he thought maybe he was being too careful or untrustworthy by just staying here, Clover was over 300 years old, it had been over 290 years since... it happened and it wasn't likely that it was going to happen again anytime soon, so why not give her some space to do her job?

But then again...What if something bad had happened right now? He couldn't walk away now if something was happening, he had to wait and see if she needed help.

Which again left him in one awkward spot.

He sat on his cloud, occupying his time by forming a few sand creatures, using the best of his imagination to create new and beautiful creatures he knew Clover would enjoy seeing. She was always enamored by the things he could create from the sand, always asking questions, offering ideas, often helping immensely in the creations that lived on the island.

The Guardian was in the middle of a rather tricky bird/lizard type thing when he heard something from behind him, Sandy turned quickly but saw nothing. Decidedly shrugging it off as a bird or something he turned back to his work.

Only to be tackled by the waiting Clover.

Surprised, the spirit fell back on his cloud, which ended up with Clover lying on top of him. The younger spirit giggled and moved closer to Sandy's face, her red hair falling about them like a curtain, closing them off from the rest of the world. Sandy face blushed a deep orange as she closed in, her green eyes locking on his as she winked and grinned at him before leaning closer, making look as though she was going for the middle of his face before changing at the last second and moved her mouth next to his ear, her hushed words causing his small ears to change to the same colour as the rest of his still shocked face.

"_Payback." _

And suddenly she was off him again, sitting calmly next to him on his dream sand while he tried to get himself sorted, unfortunately he was unable to rid the orange blush as much as he would have liked.

Soon though he was sitting next to her and she smiled at him hopefully, not wanting to see him angry with her for what she had done. He smiled a little bit crookedly back at her before he managed to form the sand into a plane to fly off to another part of the world.

"Hey Sandy, Why is the sand allot tougher than usual?"

_Just ignore it._

* * *

Sometime later Sandy was once again delivering his dreams onto the town below; I decided to stay with him so he wouldn't get the idea, or rather the worry that I would tackle him again.

Honestly I was really glad he didn't take offense to it, since it had taken quite a bit of my self esteem to do it, what with the annoying as hell voice trying to shoot me down at every corner, really it was like it didn't want me to be around him at all, which is weird enough. But it only gets weirder with the offhand comments it usually made when it thought I wasn't paying attention.

**You have beautiful eyes...**

_What? _ I had been looking at my reflection in a window of some random town at the time, absentmindedly placing several of my coins into a sleeping homeless man's begging cap, the night cold and damp like all nights in that town usually were. There was blissful silence for a moment before,

**You'll always be alone; no one will ever accept you.**

And that was just one example. Really when the voice was telling me that I'll never be accepted and all that jazz, it was easy to ignore since it was a usual thing. But when it complimented me, even by accident...It just got weird.

I again considered telling Sandy about this occurrence but...I don't know, I guess I just didn't want him to think I was weak or incapable of taking care of something as simple as what I hoped was just a nonexistent voice in my head.

Oh and he might think I'm crazy because of that. It's just a possibility.

But onto other problems that seem to have arisen lately. Jack has once again evaded making an appearance for a whole two weeks. Of course this wasn't as bad as before but I was not willing to let it go that far again.

Jack, as I had suspected, was not in the cave I had left him in the last I saw him. The note I had left for him was still on the wall, the large leaf I had used for a blanket for him was lying dejected in the corner, making me wonder if he was okay, my worries were put to rest however when I saw something written next to my note on the cave wall, the writing was a sketchy but still understandable.

_Hey Clover, _

_There's no need to worry, I can take care of myself._

_See you sometime soon._

_Jack._

Of course I knew that Jack was younger than me, therefore making the argument that he could take care of himself was a little off and mostly wrong as I can't take care of myself on my own and I'm older than him. But still I could point this out to him for the rest of forever and nothing would change, I mean he trusts me, but I don't think he would ever take my advice when it came to trusting anybody else, let alone living in one place with that person.

I had never really noticed until recently but, I don't think Jack actually has one place, one part of the world that he called his own home. This was brought to my attention thanks to the rather unforgettable storm that Jack had brewed by accident. The thought that he was sleeping while this happened brought up another thought or rather indication that he didn't sleep in one place all the time.

During the job runs that Sandy and I did every night I would look everywhere, through as many towns as I could for a place for him. The North Pole was of course immediately off my list as North lived there, and he's great and all but then again the very thought of Santoff Claussen reminded me of blood thirsty reindeer and rather unpredictable yetis.

Seriously though, I still have hoof marks on my back from those animals.

The other pole was still into consideration, along with other specific locations but I had yet to make up my mind. And then again it wasn't really up to me, I was just hoping that when I saw Jack next I could suggest some of these places, maybe drop a hint here and there that it was probably more dangerous to wonder all over the earth without a place to stay than it was to trust others, but then again I'd have to be subtle as Jack was never really into serious conversations.

It was about now that I realized I had been pretty quiet and Sandy was watching me, of course he would be worried since I looked pretty concerned about something. He leaned over and patted my hand, causing me to snap my head up to his, he smiled comfortingly and took my hand in his own, I smiled back and took his hand in my own squeezing it carefully.

I was so lucky to have a friend like Sandy to help me; I was certain that without him I would still be as lost and unclear as I was 290 years ago. Usually I would hope that Jack would get a friend as caring and helpful as Sand, but I don't need to.

Because he had me. And as soon as I find him, I'm going to find a home for him.

_Are you okay?_

"I'm fine, just thinking, that's all." I said, leaning my head against his small shoulder, happy for this morning to end like everything else, with the both of us watching the sun rise together.

I wouldn't mind if it lasted forever.

* * *

The next day I was adamant for Sandy to stay home and rest, as I had accidentally fallen asleep halfway in the job, and woke early the next morning to find Sandy still working. Naturally I had been furious but when I tried to talk to him he nearly fell off the sand cloud when I poked him.

Luckily I caught him before he fell and carried him home. The island never really was the same when Sandy was asleep or upset, the sand that made up the house didn't shift or move under my feet, the animals in the forest were gone, almost as if Sandy was actually using a good portion of his concentration when he was awake just to keep the island alive. I walked through the house, wondering briefly on how exactly Sandy weighed even less than Jack, especially since I had to carry him further than I did Jack. I walked into his room and placed him in his bed, taking a moment to make sure he wasn't going to get up and leave for his job when my back was turned, again. I walked into my room, walking right though the door (I'm past questioning it.) and practically collapsed on my nice, soft bed.

Sleeping was always different when Sandy wasn't awake at the time as he couldn't give me good dreams, so instead I sadly received the opposite. This was really an unpredictable thing as most blissful nights I wouldn't get any dreams at all, tonight was sadly the exception.

* * *

_Where am I? I don't know where I am._

**Who cares?**

_Oh god Dammit._

**Who cares if you're alone? **

_Look you've been trying for ages, give it up its not working._

**If it's not working, then why are you having nightmares where you're alone?**

_Not that's not it, you're still here, that's the real nightmare._

**Oh please, let's get to a real problem then. You're not having nightmares about being alone, you're having nightmare in which you're without that little dream giver.**

_No, not even close._

**What's that? Denial? Rebuttal?**

**Fear?**

_NO, leave me alone._

**Oh, have I found your weak spot?**

_Who the hell are you anyway?_

**No changing the subject there my dear. You're scared of being without him? Why is that? **

_Stop it._

**Maybe you care allot more than you put on, maybe you care about him?**

_GO away, leave me alone, I've had it, If you don't stop this now, I'll tell Sandy and-_

**And he'll fix everything? He'll save the day?**

_I'm done. This conversation is over! _

**What are you going to do? Scream for Sandy to help you?**

_You bet_

* * *

"SANDY!" The dream giver snapped to attention as he heard his friend scream and practically destroyed half the house to get to her as fast as he could.

He crashed into her room and looked about wildly, his eyes immediately focusing on the convulsing figure on the bed that was still screaming wildly for help. Immediately he went up to her and started in his attempts to wake her, shaking her shoulders as hard as he could without hurting her or opening any of the still healing scars on her arms. Just her appearance scared the poor man, the bruises on her skin had faded to a dark yellow but the rest of her scars, particularly the rather angry red scar on her neck, which was starting to seem permanent.

Eventually he gave up and used his sand to try and pull out the nightmare that she was having. Sandy had never really done anything like this before so he wasn't really sure if it would work. The sand warped around her head, twisted and tightening every which way before finally Clover's hysterical screaming ceased and suddenly everything went quiet.

Scared that Clover had been hurt Sandy quickly checked to see if she was still breathing. He laid his head against her chest and relaxed as he heard the rhythmic beating of her heart and a rather weak breathing. Satisfied, Sandy left the room to deal with the nightmare he had dragged out of her head.

The nightmare he had taken out was unlike anything he had ever seen, of course it looked like every other loose nightmare that he had seen before, a circular dark sphere that was actually very heavy, the sand that had taken it out seemed adamant to touch it but he managed to force it into destroying the sphere.

Sandy was sure his sand had never reacted this way before, so obviously either the nightmares were getting stronger with the changing times or, something was directly messing with Clover's dreams. And he might be crazy, but it was possible it was the latter.

As soon as the nightmare was gone he went back into Clover's room to check on her and was relieved to see her sleeping peacefully, not even the slightest twinge of pain on her face. He pulled her blanket over her and tucked her in before yawning.

Deciding it best not to sleep, what with the thought that she might relapse, Sandy went into his work room to use extra time to work on his dreams, knowing that if the nightmares were getting stronger then he would have to match in strength.

Eventually Clover did wake up from the dream he had given her and she joined him in his work room. Clover never really came into this room as she knew how much he needed privacy to do his work.

Because of this Sandy was a little surprised to turn around and see her there. She looked horribly upset, her hair still a knotty mess from her screaming struggle and even though the good dream had helped and he could take the nightmare away, the memory still remained.

Nothing was said, she obviously wasn't ready to talk about it so Sandy didn't push the matter. She hugged him; she didn't cry, didn't sob, just held him and closed her eyes. He didn't push her away or let go as he hugged her back.

He didn't know how to fix it or what was wrong, but he would do his best to help her.

* * *

**Hey, hey you, yeah you...how about reviewing and...**

**Please come back...**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry again for taking so long but there was something I was pondering.**

**I got a recent review for this story, telling me exactly what every Fan fiction Author always dreads to hear:**

'**you made her a Mary sue wich makes me very annoyed with your character, u should had made her a little more tougher.' Copied directly from keller75863548274483's Review. (Which I can copy and use as it was a review for my story.)**

**First of all, how does someone not being strong make them a Mary Sue? Last I checked I'm not a very strong person in real life. Does that make me a Mary Sue? **

**Mary Sues are supposed to be flawless eye candy. Flawless meaning that they are strong and can stand up to 'any' adversity.**

**Being weak, last I checked, was a flaw.**

**Second, if my character annoys you so much...Stop reading. Really, I'm not forcing you to do this, if you don't like it then leave, that simple.**

**Thirdly, I might just make her weaker now, because I'm sadistic like that.**

**I own nothing but 'Mary Sue,' Clover, so please enjoy my weak and 'flawless' character.**

* * *

It had only been a few days since the strange nightmare incident and already Sandy had noticed change in Clover. She didn't seem as happy as before to go off anywhere on her own, she barley even left his side when they went on Dream runs. Of course for the first two days that this happened Sandy just put it down to the fact that she probably missed Jack Frost. But this was later proven wrong on the third day as Jack actually came to visit, and nothing changed.

Jack left allot earlier than the dream giver had expected, and was even more surprised to see that Clover wasn't with him. When he asked after it, she merely said that she was just tired, which Sandy could of course understand, as during these days, she barley slept at all. Clover probably thought that Sandy wouldn't notice but the guardian always knew when someone, especially one of his friends was having a hard time sleeping.

But really it was nothing too strange so Sandy could see past it.

Until recently.

* * *

I sat up on a dream cloud Sandy had made for me, waiting patiently for him to finish his job. I looked curiously down at the village below; we had never been to this town before. Sandy said it was because it was a new colony and that they were just starting to bring their children in with them now that the crops were growing. I watched the lights from the hut's oil lamps grow dimmer and dimmer with each passing moment, the lamps almost exactly representing my reluctance to go exploring.

_Nothing's going to happen, you haven't heard from the voice in days, it's probably left now thinking that you told Sandy all about it, it's not likely to return again so why not have some fun? Besides, you still have to find a place for Jack. _I reasoned with myself, trying to calm my anxieties of being on my own.

Eventually though my reasoning and curiosity won out and I told Sandy I would be back. I didn't miss the sudden relieved expression he was wearing when I walked away, something I would have to ask him after at the end of our job run.

My rainbow path lead me gently and swiftly to the town below, my fun loving nature not giving up the opportunity to add in a few jumps and flips of the path every so often. Over the years I had gained a reasonable amount of expert control over my rainbow path and was now experimenting with just simply gliding across it instead of having to run. It was very simple really; I would just add more of a downward slope to the path than usual. So far my attempts had been a little slow but otherwise showing good results.

Anyway, I eventually landed on the solid ground below and wandered about for a bit, taken in by the people's strange huts and customs. I noted briefly that these strange huts seemed radically different from the large houses I had seen on other sides of the world, giving the indication that these people were not as committed to one place as others. While I walked along I placed one or more coins in front of each house, admiring the strange huts that the people had built before continuing on my way.

Finally I had finished giving the coins out, by earlier anxious attitude completely gone, I got ready to head out when I saw something in the corner of my eye, something far off in the darkness of the forest not far away from the edge of the small colony. I turned and looked again, but saw nothing. I was about to turn away and continue to leave when I saw the flash of light again.

"I'm not going after it, I'm going back to Sandy and we're going home." I muttered firmly, trying to convince myself that it was exactly what I was going to do before sighing and walking into the obviously suspicious forest.

"I'm like a Lemming, honestly." I muttered again, trying to give myself something to listen to while I walked through the darkness, making sure I treaded as carefully as I could, not wanting the creature or person that was making the light to know that I was closing in on them. After a while and a ton of misdirection, The light grew closer through the thick bushes and trees, rays of the white light would splinter through the spaces in-between the bushes and trees. The closer I got the more, bright the light would become. Even when I wasn't even a few feet close to it the light would shine at my closed eyelids, making me only hasten my approach as I wanted to see what it was and leave as soon as I could.

Unfortunately my haste caused my downfall, literally. I was walking faster towards the light when an upturned root caused me to fall over, the sound of me hitting the ground echoing through the silent as death forest, I laid there on the ground for a few minutes, my heart beating wildly in my chest as I rethought the suggestion to just get up now and leave as quickly as possible.

**Oh but don't you want to see it? After all I made it for you.**

I froze, my heart rate only increasing as I had forgotten for the briefest moment, how to breathe.

**Awww you really did miss me, but I think we've spent quite enough time on the ground as it is. **

**Get Up.**

Suddenly I was on my feet, my pot hanging limply in my hand. It took a few seconds before I recognized that I couldn't move. Instantly I freaked out, but sadly no one heard my screams as it seemed that I couldn't move my mouth or speak, so I was left to scream bloody murder in my brain.

**Quiet.**

A low hollow whistling vibrated through my head and suddenly I couldn't think, any coherent thought that tried to talk over the noise was drowned out, leaving me with nothing.

It seemed as the only thing I could do was hear his words and feel.

And I was afraid.

The voice seemed to like this.

**That's better, now we can talk reasonably. Any questions?**

I felt myself able to think again, real coherent thoughts breaking through the noise and to the surface. At that moment thousands upon thousands of coherent questions rose up out of the black, my head nearly exploding at the expediency of which they came and went. Most of them, well actually a good chunk of them probably did have not the best of manners included, but then again they all felt exceptionally appropriate to this situation. Finally I just settled on the main one that seemed to be brought up the most.

_How?_

**Well really you could just say it was a stroke of luck.**

Anger, good, I can still feel that then.

_Bastard. _Swearing had never been a thing I was accustomed to do, but then again I wasn't accustomed to...whatever this hell was. The voice just laughed again before cruelly silencing off my thoughts so he could be heard, thankfully not taking the anger with them.

**Careful now, you don't want to be saying nasty words like those, especially with the surprise I cooked up for you.**

**Speaking of which, it's ready now.**

**Move forward.**

Immediately I attempted to regain control of my limbs, but no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I put into it, I moved forward all the same, my brain exhausted from my attempt.

**Well see, you knew that wasn't going to work so why did you try?**

Apparently he wasn't expecting an answer as my thoughts were still being cut off. Luckily my eyes weren't closed when the voice took control so I was able to see where the hell I was going, but that was about it as I could do nothing to stop it.

The trees and bushes eventually gave way to the light, the brightness of it burning my eyes before it suddenly dimmed; I was apparently able to feel confusion as the voice spoke up.

**Oh the light was just to draw you in, like flies to a trap. And you are one dunce fly in my opinion.**

**But anyway we're getting off track.**

**Look.**

My eyes pierced through the green bushes to see...

* * *

**Hmm...Think I'll just stop it right there. Sorry it's really short this time around but I felt like throwing in a cliff-hanger. Why? Because I'm just annoying like that.**

**What is it that Clover sees? What will happen next? Who the hell is that annoying voice anyway?**

**Review and tell me what you think the answers are, I'm curious. **


	15. Chapter 15 End Of Part 1

**I would really like to thank The Queen of Song and NyxKerry for their reviews for the last chapter; it really helped me and just made my day. **

**Okay, I own nothing but my Oc's, please enjoy!**

* * *

I walked slowly away from the carnage the voice had forced me to create, my stomach churning and knotting up in complete disgust as I collapsed on the partly singed soil. The voice's control apparently disappeared for those few precious minutes as tears started squeezing out of my shut eyelids. I was disgusted at myself, I wanted to run away. To break through the trees, past the village. Just...somewhere, away from here.

**Oh, what's wrong? I thought you'd like my surprise.**

The crackling of the uncontrolled fire still prickled in my ears, the acrid smell of burning-

I gagged then, bile burning in the back of my throat. _Don't think about it, don't think about it..._

My head was forced to turn and look behind me, at the burning home of the man I was forced to murder in cold blood while he slept. The contained tears escaped down my face, their cool temperature feeling out of place against my heated skin.

_A man was murdered tonight. I murdered him... _

I shook my head with what little strength I had left, that couldn't be true. I would never kill, never.

_You made me do it..._

**Please, I'm not the one who didn't put up a fight. **

_No, there was no way I could have-_

**You didn't even bother trying did you?**

_There's no way...no way I could have-_

**How do you know? You're free to move now aren't you? Whose saying you couldn't run while you were burning up that little creature's tent?**

I couldn't respond, there was nothing I could say to that. I just let myself fall to the ground, content to just cry my heart out over the fact that a man was now dead, gone for good and it was my entire fault.

_Why are you doing this? Who are you?_

**Me? Oh I'm a creation made to fix ****your ****mistake.**

My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as I thought over exactly what kind of mistake I could have possibly made to earn this kind of punishment, but nothing came up.

**Oh please, don't give me that 'I don't know what you're talking about' facade. You know exactly what I'm talking about.**

**I'm here, because you neglected in your duties as a spirit.**

_...What?_

I could feel the voice grumble in annoyance as it explained further, my head being forced to look back at the burning home behind me.

**You were given the powers of fortune correct? Well... not completely, not yet. But you will. **

**And there are two sides to fortune aren't there? **

**Good, and Bad.**

**You have been neglecting in your duties in the misfortune my dear, and now it is time to collect.**

**It is a shame about that creature though, to think, he could be alive now if you hadn't been so negligent.**

This news shocked me. I was still being forced to look at the burning home of that man, my heart breaking at the thought that everything that had happened tonight, was my fault. It was my entire fault.

I was given this power to help people; I never knew I would also be punishing them. And because of my ignorance, this man was dead.

**Oh, now don't feel so bad. Would it help if I told you that man was unfaithful to his wife? That he stole cheated and lied his way to where he was now. That's why he's in the forest instead of with the rest of the tribe you know, he lied and was punished.**

_You're sick. I should have told Sandy about you before, then this man wouldn't be dead. I doesn't matter what he did, how he lived, he could have changed his ways. _

**Maybe, maybe not. But the question is, what are you going to do now?**

Sobbing I sat up from the ground, hugging myself as much as I could as I thought over what the voice had said. What am I going to do next?

_I have to tell Sandy about this, he will help me get rid of you._

**Will he? I mean you did just kill a man my dear, I don't think that's going to be glanced over in the questioning.**

_He...he will understand... I know he will..._

Would he really? I wasn't exactly sure, and the voice of course knew about that, and picked at it.

**Hmm, what's this? Doubt on your little friend? And to think, all you ever talk about in this sad excuse for a cranium is how ****lucky**** you are to have a friend like Sandman. What happened? Change your mind?**

_No...He will believe me; I'm going to tell him everything. It stops today._

I went to walk away from the clearing but my body was no longer in my control. The voice was apparently not ready for our game to end, his next statement only further convincing me that this was more than just me going crazy from living for so long.

This voice was real, and it was in control.

**Maybe. But what if I told you that something might happen to the mini man during your little confession?**

Everything just stopped right there, fear taking a hold of my brain as the very thought of hurting Sandy...

I closed my eyes, the only power over my head I had. My face twisted in pain and for those few seconds I thought real hard about where I was, what was behind me, and I decided on what would happen next.

The choice was made, and there was no turning back from here.

_Where are we going?_

**Oh many a horrible places my poor, poor creature. And you'll hate every second of it, I promise.**

We walked forward, away from the monstrous scene we had created together, this being the first of many unwanted and unfortunate scenes to come. The forest soon surrounded us as we walked. I prayed at that very moment that Sandy, or hell even the slightest bit of dream sand would be in that forest, just something to give me hope. I wanted so bad for him to save me. But he couldn't.

No one can.

Not anymore.

_You never told me your name._

**No I didn't did I? How rude of me. **

**I am Bedlam**

...

End of Part 1

* * *

**AU: Sorry this is really short but I was having kind of a writer's block. I just wanted to get this out of the way now and continue with the story. I'll probably come back to this later and fix it up but for now...**

**End of Part 1 in Luck Isn't For The Fainthearted.**

**What will happen next? Will Clover ever see Sandy again? Will Bedlam ever be beaten? **

**We'll see...won't we?**


	16. Chapter 16

The Sandman knocked Pitch against the wall of his dark cave, his sand whips leaving particularly large, dark bruises on his already ash coloured skin.

_Where is she? _

"Where is who?" The nightmare bringer gasped, his hands trying to cover up his weakest points as the whips did not stop in their attack during this questioning. But that didn't seem to do him much good as the answer Pitch gave was apparently not the one the golden spirit was looking for. Sandy glared, using his whips to throw Pitch to the floor, walking slowly towards him.

_You know what I mean, Where is Clover? _Pitch said nothing, only adding fuel to the fire. The guardian grasped his enemy by the scruff of his cloak, glaring intently in his eyes. _Where is she?_

"Why should I know where your little Lucky Charm is Sandman? Maybe she got tired of you and left." He didn't see the next attack coming until it was over. The air quickly escaped his lungs as he was launched down quite a few of his many staircases, something cracking painfully loud when his fall was over.

Yet as soon as it was over he was shoved to his feet and against the wall, his attacker's small hands now squeezing his already injured throat. Pitch had yet to make any attempt of an attack, which was slightly understandable yet still incredibly suspicious to the angry spirit.

_What did you do to her Kozmotis? _There wasn't the normal response like Sandy had expected. No short anger at the mention of his real name, no eventual smirk and sarcastic response and, more importantly, absolutely no admission that he knew where Clover was. Instead, the nightmare king's eyebrows furrowed together, most likely an act, but still the guardian was, for some reason, willing to listen.

"Look Sanderson, sarcasm aside," The spirit stopped for a second and leaned forward, whispering quietly, "I haven't seen your girlfriend."

He didn't want to believe Pitch, he wanted so badly to just continue strangling the man until he either, lied and said he knew where she was, or passed out.

But...

His hands released themselves from Pitch's neck, not noticing the nightmare bringer collapse onto the ground, gasping for breath. Sandy floated a ways off; unable to think on what else could have happened to her.

Perhaps... She did leave him behind, that she was tired of him and his controlling ways. He closed his eyes, eyebrows furrowing together as he tried to think of something else, anything else other than the jarring obvious that could have driven her away.

Nothing emerged, and the spirit left the Nightmare King's lair, broken hearted.

* * *

We walked for what felt like forever, and maybe it was forever, I could never tell.

Bedlam lead me through the thick forest, to open land and the towns beyond, where we unleashed the well needed misfortune on the unsuspecting farmers and townspeople. I didn't dare speak during this time, instead just blocking it all out, ignoring everything around me as I tried to think of something other than the horrid crimes I was being forced to commit.

Time naturally passed. Days became weeks, weeks became months and months into years until eventually, I started to lose allot more than just the control of my actions.

There suddenly came a day when I realized I had forgotten what the dream sand had felt like in my hands. All those years I lived with Sandy, and I couldn't remember the simplest detail of the texture of the sand.

But it didn't stop there.

I forgot the sound of Jack's laugh, the times when his voice would do a weird squeaky thing whenever he shouted. I lost the memory of what the Easter Warren, in all its spring glory, smelt like. Even the simple feeling of the soft ground under boots was lost.

And it continued like this, bit by bit, little by little until the faces of my closest friends, were lost to me in a haze of being trapped and used.

And when the facts where lost, I started to confuse it all for fiction, like the whole thing was dreamed up in my mind to stop me from recognising the terrible, nightmarish reality.

Maybe Jack and Sandy never even knew me in real life; maybe they're not even real.

But still, even with this doubt I held onto the memories. Not ever consulting this with Bedlam as one, it would go out of its way to destroy these memories and two, he might remove them altogether.

I couldn't allow for that to happen as these memories were what I ran to in my mind when Bedlam took over, without them... I don't know what I'd do.

They were gold to me, and I would treat them as such.

Some nights I did cry for what I hoped was a real loss, I would lay in whatever I could make into a bed at the time and cry for hours, maybe days. I use to scream, loudly and harshly into the night that surrounded me, hoping someone would hear, would help.

After a while I stopped fighting it, stopped screaming in the night, and stopped crying. I had lost my old life (fiction? No, mustn't think that.) And I accepted that completely.

But I would be damned if Bedlam would win my mind forever.

Whether the memories with Sandy were real or not, it didn't matter at the moment. I was here now, and I did not like the thought of having this being in my mind for the rest of existence. So I fought, but not openly, or verbally, but secretly. As secretly and desperately as I kept those golden memories of the possible home I could go to.

* * *

It was a normal day like any other when you have an unknown voice in your head that controls your actions. We were moving through one of the many grasslands of a far away country, I believe Bedlam called it the 'Belgian Congo' and that we had to be wary of the swamps and 'invaders', when we came across a small group waddling their way through the thick waters, barely even recognizing my presence (duh) as we crawled closer to them.

By their once clean respectable clothing that practically screamed of another country, I could instantly tell that these men were the 'invaders' Bedlam was speaking of. The only real noise coming from them was from the older, bearded man leading them, he was yelling loudly at his other men, calling them off as cowards of 'the crown', whatever that was.

Normally I would instantly have seething anger for the controlling voice in my head when he lead me further through the depths of the swamps, but I was also rather interested in these men and their purpose here. The closer we got, the more I noticed how the men the bearded one was leading were struggling with something, the closer I got, the more I noticed exactly what was going on.

The men were dragging a darker skinned, young boy behind them, the boy putting up quite a fight against his oppressors. The bearded one spoke quietly to the boy for a few seconds, his scowling face only growing more furious as he heard the boys reply.

He moved back, striking the boy full force. I growled, but was unable to move as Bedlam had not yet decided on what should happen next. So I was left to crouch unhappily in the mud, watching as this monstrous man 'punished' this poor little boy for whatever he may have done. Eventually he was apparently tired out and moved back, the other men holding the boys arm out as a sword was brought to the older man.

I didn't need to collect the dots to know what would happen next, and I started screaming at Bedlam to make its decision, to do something. Bedlam managed to grow tired of my screaming and silenced me, making me stand as we walked quickly and quietly towards the loud group.

_So what are we going to do?_

**We aren't going to do anything. I just want to watch the show and the view was rubbish.**

_God damn it just do something, please! Anything! _

There was no reply for a few seconds before I heard Bedlam speak again, my breath held by this point as the sword was well above the bearded man's head.

**Imagine the sword burning.**

_What?_

**You heard me; think about the sword burning up in heat, just do it. **

I was about to reply, most likely with a witty retort which would give me the biggest migraine for weeks, most likely months with what I had in mind. But I never got around to it as the sword started it's decent towards the boy's arm.

Time seemed to slow as I quickly did as Beldam said; convinced it was unlikely to ever work when I was, of course, proven wrong. Just as I imagined the sword becoming hotter than heated coals, the man suddenly reacted, yelling and dropping the sword out of his hands as though it were electrified. I watched, amazed as the sword landed in the water, where it was ultimately lost in the murky mud below.

_Did...Was that you?_

**This was just the one of many powers you neglected thanks to numbskull ignorance. In other words, no, no it was not me.**

During the confusion were the men were questioning their bearded leader, their captive managed to break free from their slackened holds. He didn't wait a second and ran deep into the swamp forest, his retreat only noticed by his once captors until he was gone for good.

_I never... That was..._

**Lucky?**

I didn't bother dignifying that with a response as we walked on through the swamp, the men having left to chase after the child I thought over the recent power I had discovered. Excited, yet cautious at what kind of opportunities this could bring.

And it was all Thanks to Bedlam.

Lately it seemed that it would be much easier to hate Beldam if it didn't help me discover my powers and the extent of them. I wished I could have had the chance to discover these things on my own, to travel alone in this world and find these magnificent powers by myself.

But, even with this disappointment, I couldn't help but feel a sense of euphoria at the discovery. Just thinking about it, the slightest twitch of my mind could turn armies, could level wars and change out comes.

I now had the power to force enemies away from their weapons, yet I could not do the simplest thing, as to remove the enemy from within.

Not yet.

**What was that?**

_Nothing, where are we going next?_

* * *

We were walking quickly through a town in what Bedlam called Texas. We had landed from a rainbow path quite a bit away from the town; following the dirt track towards it as the oncoming horses and carriages of the town would either run pass me, or just charge right through me as they rode on, the after wind of their haste a welcomed pleasure in the heat.

We walked into the only bar in the town, the establishment completely ignoring our entrance as expected. The place smelt of horse excrement and low hopes as the town had hit on hard times, the more shocking of the sights in the dinky building being that of a child drinking. I wanted to smack the bottle right out of the boy's mouth, but Bedlam didn't seem to share my views and kept me walking to the bar counter.

Bedlam lead me to a small bar stool and sat me down, stealing another man's drink as he himself suddenly fell to the ground in a drunken stupor. I forced an eye roll and pushed a thought to my oppressor as I downed the beverage.

_I'm gonna guess that you did that right?_

**I'm thirsty. ** The alcohol burned the back of my throat, but I didn't react, instead focusing on the dirt encrusted windows of the bar, the glass plains barely even showing what was occurring outside. However I could gather from the sudden silence of the bar that something was gonna go down.

_Bar fight?_

**No, more like a show down. Speaking of, we're needed outside. **The bottle was dropped out of my hands, smashing completely on the flour and dirt covered floor boards, the shatter turning some heads before they returned to the situation outside.

The swinging doors of the bar creaked as I walked back out into the heat, using what little control Bedlam had given me to shield my eyes from the sun as I saw the two of the townspeople as either end of the street, both having a look of murderous rage you would not miss on an angry man.

They stood feet apart, their hands favorably clutching the very beginnings of their pistols. Guns were a weapon I had lately found both interesting and dangerous. A weapon that could strike you dead from one shot was a weapon that the world this early in development could really do without.

But I digress, the men continued in their glare and surprisingly, turned their backs on one another and began to walk away. I would have liked to think that they were actually over their dispute and were going to discuss it like natural adults, but I knew better than that by that point.

_Which one will win? _I no longer bothered questioning for the saving of both, I had learned by that point that luck and life didn't work like that. I walked closer to the middle street where the 'showdown' was taking place, watching all the other occupants of the town as the scrambled into or behind buildings, a look of fear for their lives, but excitement at the thought of danger.

**Depends, which will shoot first? **I didn't bother arguing or even commenting on what Bedlam had said, knowing that at the end of the day, he would decide what the outcome was going to be in the cases of misfortune, which this was.

The men eventually finished their walk and turned quickly towards each other. Bedlam then forced my hand out, the same thought of the man's gun burning up to the touch that I had back in the Belgian Congo. The man drew his gun, but dropped it due to the now uncontrollable heat. Any leftover witnesses to the gun fight cocked their heads in confusion to this action, not noticing that at the same time, the other man had just finished cocking his gun.

Gasps were heard as the loser of the gun fight fell to the ground, the bullet finishing him quicker than any death of my time. People ran forward to identify his true passing of this world, many of the women overly acting out a sense of despair for the attention of their male accomplices.

I watched quietly, not a slightest of twitches in my eye as Bedlam lead me back into the bar, the small nagging at the back of my mind that certainly wasn't any manipulation by Bedlam, wanted to drink as much alcohol as the bar could provide an invisible entity.

* * *

**Okay answering of Question time:**

**Aaaa: **

**Oh wow, Thanks for the long review! I enjoyed reading this and your view point of my character, anyway, your question:**

**Ah, no...I've never seen Bedlam. Really the name was a tie between Discord and Bedlam but I recently looked up Discord and... Decided to leave it be. **

**And really? Not that much Sandy appreciation here? That's weird, but hopefully others will write Sandy/whatever stuff to, mostly because he's my fav, (Silently wishing for Sandy plushie of my very own *seriously Dream works, do it now!*)**

**Oh, and I own nothing but my characters, Bedlam (kinda), the story line, and my liver (maybe, I'm still looking into that.) **

**Please review! Constructive criticism welcome as it has always been!**


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